Deku 10
by Kurusan
Summary: Izuku Midoriya finds more than just the strength to inherit One for All in the scrap metal on that beach. He also finds the Omnitrix!
1. And Then There Were Ten

**_Always kinda wanted to see what kind of story a ben 10 x herl academy crossover could be. So im writing one. throw me a bone on spellingg and grammar. I write alot of this stuff on the bus._**

Determination and fear warred within Midoriya Izuku's body as he left his families small apartment that morning.

His heart jackhammered and his chest tightened just remembering the past few days misadventures.

Meeting with All Might

Accidentally releasing the villain that had nearly killed or.. Posessed him he guessed.

Rushing to save Kacchan.

Being offered One for All.

 **Being offered One for All**.

He felt dazed just thinking about it. A rush of adrenaline swept through him whenever tried.

In his bliss filled state Izuku only narrowly avoided the lamp post along the route to the trash strewn beach he was to meet All Might at.

He would do everything he could to be worthy of All Mights power. He would strive to tread the path laid by the worlds greatest hero. This would be the beggining of his story - the story of the worlds greatest hero.

These were the thoughts that buoyed him forward in the crisp morning air to the huge mountain of scrap along the beech front.

Standing before it with a smile known the world over was his personal hero, now mentor, All Might. The inhumany muscular man swung his arms out to either side of him as Izuku approached, gym bag under one arm and with a voice every bit as heroic as he used on television intoned;

 **"Welcome Young Midoriya, to your training ground! Where we will mold your determination and will into a body capable of handling my quirk!"**

Everything the man said came in the form of barely restrained yelling. As though it was the quietest he was capable of talking.

Izuku clenched his teeth and nodded in determination, not trusting himself to speak.

 **"Now then, we have a lot of work to do before you can take the UA entrance exam Midoriya. Ive gone to the trouble of creating a work out plan for you that will push you to your limits AND support the community!"**

Whirling around All Might quickly walked down the stairs onto the beach, revealing the mountain of trash to be nearly ten feet tall, and spread from nearly horizon to horizon.

Izuku gaped at the mess. He'd had no idea something so horrible was so close to his home. He began to wonder at how many years it would take to clean when All Might continued his speech.

 **"You must clear the beach my boy. For only whenyou have completely cleaned the area will I know that you are ready to receive my quirk."**

The idea of such intense labour would have terrified the Izuku Midoriya of last week. But he had left his home telling himself he would do whatever it took.

And so without any hesitation, he began dragging ragged chunks of rubber and iron from the beach - and as All Might turned to leave he spoke, not looking up from his labour

"I wont fail you All Might. I WONT LET YOU DOWN!".

And though All Might was always smiling, his expression loosened in that moment. Because he knew he had chosen well.

 _Meanwhile, in space above the earth._

"Lord Vilgax, the fighters report that while they damaged the transport pod, they were unable to capture it before it entered earths atmosphere."

The hugesquidlike monster of a man narrowed his eyes at the view screen from his place in the command chair of the battle ship.

 ** _"Send down the drones. We dont want to alert anyone to our presence."_**

"Yes my Lord. The last thing we needis for someone else to find it."

A pair of red menacing eyes traced the entry path of the pod across the screen, as it plummeted through the clouds onto the unassuming island of japan.

The next day Izuku awoke 5 minutes earlier than hed set his alarm clock. It was now 3:55am and nervous energy coursed through him, causing his entire body to ache. He was unaccustomed to the amount of punishment he was putting himself through.

But still he clambered out of bed and prepared his return to the beach. There were only a few more days of class left before summer break, and then he would be free to really push himself. He feared that no amount of work could ever prepare him for what All Might intended of him. Fear was as intrinsic to Izukus way of thinking as breathing or eating. So much scared him.

And thats why he had to work harder. Harder than anyone.

He slapped his cheeks and splashed cold water on his face before leaving the house at a jog. A courageous smile plastered across his face as he said "Its hero time!"

Not long afterwards he arrived at the beach, noticing shards of metal and dislodged junk strewn across the sea and the sidewalk next to it. A dull orange glow like that of heated metal radiated out of the center of the junk pile its source just out of his sight.

"What the.." Izuku sprinted the rest of the way down the walkway to the beach, leaping over damaged refrigerator into the crater of metal and sand now present in his erstwhile gym.

Sitting in the center of the crater was the wreckage of some form of satellite, a dull green glow contrasting the steaming orange glow of the sand and metal around it.

Izuku slid down into the depression, confidant in his ability to climb back out - or at least survive until All Might came to check on him. As he did so the source od the green glown became apparent. A thick band of grey and black material topped by a green circle, and emblazoned by the black outline of an hourglass hovered in the center of the wreckage.

Without warning the object flew through the air at Izuku, who had been trying ti stay out of the dangerously heated area around the object.

He flung his left arm up to defend himself, squeezing his eyes shut in preparation of the impact.

Much gentler than he wouldhave thought, the object latched onto his wrist, and like cool liquod metal formed itself to him, and sealing shut.

Even as it did so two perfectly spherical grey objects rocketed out of the sky towards him, coming to a complete stop on either side of the scared teen.

A light shot out of one of the orbs and flicked across Izuku, stopping on his left wrist. An artificial sounding voice resounded from both orbs, blaring at Izuku through hidden loud speakers;

 ** _"Omnitrix detected. Attention native. You have 10 seconds to relinquish the device or be executed."_**

"What!?" Izuku immediately squawked, immediately tearing at the strap of the device, unable to make it budge or move an inch from his arm.

 ** _"10. 9. 8."_**

"Im trying!Im trying but it WONT COME OFF!"

 ** _"7. 6. 5. 4."_**

Another precious few seconds of scrambling left Izuku no better off than he had been at getting this strange device off him, and in a fit of panic he began slapping plaintively at the green dial atop it.

 ** _"3. 2. 1."_**

Time slowed to a crawl as the dial popped up with a clicking noise, an indecipherable hologram appearing over the device.

Izuku didnt care. He just hoped this was the off button. His right hand slammed down on the raised dial just as an array of weapons slid out of each drones hovering spherical body.

A sudden wave of energy coursed through his body.

And then there was nothing but darkness


	2. Grit your teeth, and say!

**Tried to make it longer as asked. I figure I put one out once a day though during transit so forgive me if a few short ones still slip in now and then. What alien do you think should show up next?**

The world exploded into sound around Izuku, and his mind struggled to keep up with all the input. Thirteen seagulls cawing away a dozen meters up and to his left, every crash upon the shore as the waves swept past, the grinding sound of multiple implements of destruction as they hurtled through the air towards him.

 _"Wait. . . that-"_

Izuku flung himself through the air away from his aggressors with swing of his left arm. Or was it front leg? Information about a biology _alien_ to him flooded Izuku's mind even as too strong strike against the ground drove him through the air a half dozen meters to land with an awkward crash along the lip of the crater.

He realized with some trepidation that he was blind. Somehow, and he assumed from the influx of loud - distracting - noises that it was some form of echo location. But this did not change the panic that filled him at the fact that **he. was. blind**.

He was shocked from his reverie by the return of that unbearable grinding sound. He didn't have time to ponder his current state of being. He had to deal with the threat ahead of him - at least until All Might arrived.

Reasoning that he must be reasonably strong right now, Izuku furled his rear legs - which were digitigrade now - and sprung forward, slamming a huge orange fur covered arm down on one of the weaponized orbs veering towards him. He seemed faster than before - not just physically, but mentally. It was like his mind was overclocked and even the most minute movement would not escape his attention. The drone slammed into the ground with a satisfying crunching noise, and Izuku was treated to the briefest flash of its innards, hearing the size and shape of every gear and circuit board as the force of his blow pushed them out of shape.

He had no time to relish the feeling of strength and accomplishment this brought him, as blasts impacted all around him from the direction of the other drone. The waves of force from the onslaught impacted his side and pushed him over, unfamiliar as he was with this new configuration of his body. He wondered idly if this was his quirk finally manifesting. Just in time for him to get killed by. . . whatever these things were.

It was then that Izuku Midoriya, heard two things. He needed enhanced hearing to recognize only one of them.

First, the drone that had incapacitated him began to charge a blast of energy that would almost certainly kill him if he chose not to move.

The second was . . .

 **"ssssSSSSSMMMAAAAASSSSHH!"**

Needless to say, Izuku Midoriya, bearer of the Omnitrix chose not to move. He simply felt no need. He could feel the air pressure change around him at the - literally - meteoric approach of his hero. His changed senses lent a new appreciation to the sheer amount of force All Might brought to bear. Where his strike against the Orb had been powerful, nearly as powerful as a small scale motor collision, All Mights strike simply vaporized the contraption. He felt the force of the blow as it impacted the Drone, and 'saw' each individual gear and wire rapidly accelerate up to the entry speed of a comet. Only when the drone was so much cosmic dust on the beach front did he lose track of the individual parts.

Slowly, Izuku rose from his prone position, he felt like crying. He was pretty sure he _was_ crying. He could feel something running down his face at least.

 _'All Might!'_

"Grooaarr!"

 _'I can't TALK either!?'_

It was at that moment that the Omnitrix, spent of the energy that fueled it - timed out. In a brilliant flash of emerald light Izuku was back, standing in the place of the huge orange beast All Might had been staring at with caution. Snot ran down his face, and with the return of his sight, the relief of being alive, and the thrill of his first real fight, he began to bawl.

An hour or two later All Might stood, one hand on his chin in thought.

"Sorry kid, But I just about used up all the power I had left today. Plus, I don't think I could get that thing off your wrist without taking your whole arm off. Dunno what its made of, but its strong stuff."

All Might was in the small emaciated form he took up when not using One for All. Izuku found it disconcerting, seeing him like this. He'd never voice the thought, shameful as it was to judge All Might for his wounds. But it disconcerted him all the same. It made him feel uncertain of the future, to see the truth of the greatest hero that ever lived. It also however, filled him with determination.

After some time spent with All Might explaining the situation and trying to get the obviously dangerous device off his arm, Izuku had eventually resigned himself to it. He still had no idea how the device worked, and was afraid to even try to manipulate the dial again.

All Might had shrugged off the attack, simply resolving to be present for all of Izuku's training sessions.

The days dragged on, and Izuku noted that Kacchan veered clear of him. Izuku didn't fear the reprieve. It wasn't in Kacchan's nature to _prepare._ He was simply quick to anger. In fact Kacchan had always been an interesting topic for Izuku. He frequently wondered if he was so volatile because of his quirk, or if his quirk had manifested as it had because he was so volatile.

His training continued as well, although he supposed it was more akin to a high intensity workout than training. Days flitted by, and in the haze of sweat and tears, Izuku all but forgot about the device anchored to his left wrist. No more attacks came, and nothing of consequence came of the investigation All Might put together.

And then the day came when he was to inherit One for All. Maybe it was the knowledge that no one else could ever hope to obtain the opportunity he'd been given. Maybe it was fused metal crater of his first (short) battle dominating his view of the beach. But Izuku cleaned the entire beach front. With a mighty heave of effort, he dragged the last rusted car from from the beach, and let loose a mighty scream that belied the tears and sweat streaming down his face.

All Might stood waiting for him at the top of the stairs leading down onto the now clear sand, his emaciated form staring out over the sparkling waters, in stark amazement. He had never doubted Izukus dedication. But he had always assumed that he would have to use one of the spots at UA dedicated to referral students to get Izuku in. No average person could stay so dedicated to the progressively more brutal excercise the boy had put himself through.

All Might even suspected that despite his worries for the boys safety, he'd been coming after hours to continue his labour.

Having toweled off and replaced his tracksuit, Izuku jogged up the stairs to All Might, more muscle than any boy his age has a right to standing out against his small frame. Before he could speak, All Might cut him off, expanding into his muscular super heroic form, and letting loose a laugh known the world over.

 **"Izuku my boy, you are truly amazing! Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined this level of growth from the frail boy I met that day! Now! Come, and claim your reward!"**

A weary and ragged Izuku smiled up at the number one hero.

"All Might, I- I'm so t-thankful. I was so close, to giving up. to letting go of my dreams, and-"

 **"Come now my boy. Look at yourself. Look at what you've done in this short time. Make no mistake Izuku. Even without me, I have every confidence that you would have found a way!"**

"All Might!" Izuku cried out in joy.

 **"Now,"** the titan said, pulling a strand of hair from his head. **"Eat this!"**

Izuku stared at the strand of hair in stark disbelief.

"Eh?"

 **"In order to inherit my power, you must take in a part of my body. Trust me. Hairs the easiest!"**

Izuku imagined eating fingernails for a moment, and shivered, hesitantly reaching out for the strand of hair, and slowly, reverently, placed it in his mouth and swallowed it.

 **"Now, rest up my boy. The UA entrance exams are tommorow, and your going to wow them all!"**

"But, I don't _feel_ any different. . ."

 **"You'll have to sleep on it kid, let it settle. Take heart, because** ** _I_** **believe in you!"**

So it was that Izuku went home, heart hammering in his chest, and unable to get anything but a fitful sleep.

Unbeknownst to him, the Omnitrix dial flashed open in the middle of the night, a hologram of a strand of hair dancing over it, before the display began to cycle, spinning rapidly through more and more alien forms, before ominously, clicking shut.

The next day, a beleaguered and high strung Izuku found himself walking the hallowed path to the front gates of UA Academy. The most prestigious of the hero certification schools. He'd awoken and found himself no different than before. He'd found himself to have no facility with the strength his teacher had promised him. He'd had no lucky with the advice All Might had given him on the use of his new quirk.

 ** _"Just clench your teeth, and yell, from the depths of your heart, SMASH!"_**

Izuku was beginning to feel as though All Might was not, in fact an amazing teacher. At least from a purely technical perspective. Whenever he'd tried he'd felt like there was something... blocking him. Like there was a wall in the way. He'd had a sneaking suspicion about what that wall was, but he'd very pointedly been avoiding thinking about it.

So lost in thought was Izuku that he didn't notice himself hurtling towards the ground face first until impact was imminent. He squeezed his eyes shut in preparation for the impact - but it never came.

"Hey there! You really should look where your going."

The girl standing in front of him was slightly stocky, and well figured. Medium cut brown hair hung around her head, and so enamored was Izuku that it took him several seconds to begin speculating at the quirk keeping him hovering several inches over the concrete.

"Uh, hello?"

"Huh!? Oh Im s-so sorry. Thank you."

Helping him to a standing position and then releasing her hold on whatever was keeping him aloft, the girl exhaled a good natured laugh.

"Hi! Are you here to take the entrance exam to?"

She was so dazzling and innoccent that Izuku was having trouble putting himself together enough to have a conversation.

Then again he was pretty much always on the backfoot with women. The ones that would tolerate him through Kacchans bullying anyway.

"I, um, that is, yes I -"

He was cut off by the sudden interruption of a newcomer to the conversation. A tall boy with a firm build, glasses, and a perfectly coifed head of blue hair. If he wasnt so obviously big enough to hurl Izuku bodily across the street he would have assumed him to be like himself - a nerd.

"I should hope not. The hallowed halls of UA have played host to some of the greatest heros that have ever lived. Someone so disheveled and obviously distracting to those of us set on the path of the hero couldnt possibly be here as anything but a joke."

The larger boy leveled a stare at Izuku that said exactly how he felt about such a joke. Then promptly left as quickly as he had come.

The girl shot a quizzical stare past Izuku to the boys retreating back, before shrugging and skipping off after him.

"Come on! were gonna be late if we don't hurry!"

Izuku had left twenty minutes early to ensure that WOULDN'T happen, but he wasnt about to pass up the chance to walk with a pretty girl regardless.

Thus was how Izuku found himself, after a lengthy explanation fron Present Mic, standing before the gates of an enourmous fake city.

"Destroy robots, get points, Destroy robots, get points..."

Izuku muttered over and over again. His obvious distress a pleasure for all those competing for the few spots at UA. The girl and the boy hed met this morning stood a ways off staring at him.

One with disdain. One with pity.

 ** _ALL RIGHT NOW! LET THE TEST BEGIN! LETS ROCK KIDS!"_**

Present Mic's easily recognizeable voice blared out over the crowd, and the enourmous steel gates began to swing open.

A stampede of students - many who Izuku had a hard time believing were children - began to rush the entrance.

Izuku frantically began chasing after them as the pack split up to head to the four corners of the area.

All around him tank like robots of sizes ranging from large to titanic were being obliterated by every possible kind of quirk. Fire and Lightning swirled around him almost too close for comfort. And every machine he moved towards was destroyed within moments of him spotting it.

He began to panic. What was he doing here? Hed failed before he'd even begun. He couldnt use One for All. He was just a quirkless kid.

His eyes fell to the device on his wrist. The one he had so pointedly been trying to ignore. He didnt relish being blind again. In fact it terrified him just thinking about it. But he had to do something. And he had to admit that he had been alot stronger and faster that night the drones attacked.

In a viewing room somewhere on campus the teachers watched in bemusement, as a single hopeful student stood staring at his left hand.

All Might, in his smaller form chewed stressfully on his finger nails.

"Come on kid."

Meanwhile Izuku, still staring, began to move.

"I may not be fast, or strong, or even smart."

His right hand rose above his head fingers splayed out as though high fiving the sky.

"I may be small, and cry easily."

The dial on the device popped out of its case, the green glow of its energy brightening as though in response to the words.

"But I made a promise. That I would be the greatest hero there ever was. So here we go, its Hero Time!"

His hand slammed down on the dial and a brilliant emerald light flooded the secluded corner of the abused fake city.

Izukus body bulged to immense size, matching that of his mentor and teacher, and an extra pair of arms violently split from his body. His skin turned a scarlet red and his vision double as an extra set of eyes opened on his face.

"Four..arms?"

He said glancing down at himself.

"Hey! I'm not blind!" he yelled with joy. He sighted on a fairly large robot with a 3 on it and began barreling towards it.

He crashed into the machine like a wrecking ball, tearing out the other side of it with hardly any loss in momentum. He somehow just _knew_ what this body was capable of. And it was capable of alot.

Quickly now, leaping from building to building, as many as 7 meters into the air with each jump, he moved toward sthe active fighting where there would be more robots. His heart pounded and he nearly missed it the first time he heard it.

"Help! Hey! Anyone!"

He recognized the voice. It was the girl who'd helped him earlier!

He landed and immediately changed course to follow the voice, crashing into the road next to her, wincing as an after thought when he checked to see if any debris had sprayed her.

She lay trapped under the wreckage of a two point robot, staring in panic over his shoulder. He turned ready to fight off the largest robot hed yet seen, a 3 pointer, instead only catching a glimpse of a robotic hand bigger than a dump truck bearing down on him like a fly about to be swatted.

Time stilled for him and he realized that though he could evade, the girl could not - trapped as she was.

With a mighty roar he raised all four of his muscular arms catching the hand as it crashed down onto him and just barely holding it in place. He grunted in pain - the first pain hed had since entering this form he realized - and adjusted his footing to stop himself from sliding backwards.

It was no good he realized. He was slowly losing ground. He couldnt stop another strike like this. He needed more power. More strength. He needed. . .

The robots enourmous hand lifted in preparation of another attack, and the device, the omnitrix, HIS omnitrix, hed decided, lit up from its new position atop his left shoulder. It blinled plaintively at him and popped up, as it had upon first transforming him.

Adrenaline coursed through his veins like mercury and without thought he roared, slamming a palm down on the dial.

 **" _ssSSMAAAAASH!"_**

Strength filled his limbs, now huge hulking monstrosities bigger than his actual body. He felt bigger and better than ever, his torso supported by his immense lower set of arms while his upper set came up in a fighting posture.

He was bigger and badder than ever before. He was strong. He was invulnerable. He was the best his species had to offer. He was -

 **"Ultimate Four Arms!!"**

He bellowed it like an expletive, and gestured with one immense index finger.

 **"Round 2 big guy."**


	3. Easy Come, Easy Go

**Holy crap, I just realized that somewhere between my phone and the document manager a bunch of the horizontal lines I was using to separate text, and a couple whole words just weren't coming through. May have to back track over the previous chapters to fix that.**

 **As to the question of pairings. . . well I hadn't thought that much on the topic. I tend to lean on a harem for lack of decision making power in that department, mostly because I had some scenes I wanted to write that would contradict each other otherwise.**

* * *

The giant robot paused briefly in its attack, as though to ponder the declaration from the insect sized being in front of it. The sun glinted off the immense zero emblazoned on its shoulder.

Four Arms didn't care.

In that moment the test didn't matter. Just the fight. Combat with the biggest meanest thing he could find. A fight for the pure unholy joy of it.

He waited not because of fear, or because of respect. He waited for the robot for one reason. It would make the fight better.

Some small part of Izuku understood that this was uncharacteristic of him. That he really should care more about the test. Or the girl behind him. But try as he might his mind kept looping back around to one thing.

How good this was gonna feel.

* * *

Somewhere in a control center and viewing room, elsewhere on the UA campus, the teachers, all accomplished Heros, had fallen silent.

"Hey, who is that kid?"

"I dunno but hes gotta be stupid picking a fight with a Zero over some girl he just met. Looked like he was going somewhere too once he got his quirk turned on. Pity."

The room was interested. Curious at best.

All Might was elated. and confused. He figured the kid had some kind of alternate form quirk that had just activated late or something. But when he compared the eyeless orange beast he'd seen that day on the beach to the red skinned form the kid had today...

Not to mention the way he'd been fiddling with that weird watch before he'd gotten stuck to, before the transformation.

He resolved to ask some more experts to look into it later, and turned back to the screen.

* * *

Four Arms glared up at the skyscraper sized machine.

 **"Hey, if your not gonna come down here..."** A single thundering slam of one his enormous fists rocked the earth, sending pavement spraying in all directions and causing the girl to cover her face.

Four Arms rocketed through the air like a red missile, his upper set of arms flashing out the grab the over sized mechanical hand hovering over the street like a guillotine. His body kept going however, his lower set of Arms lashing out at walls and buildings they past to continue his forward motion, until he hung high in the air above the robot, still grasping its hand.

 **"Then I'll have to come to you!"** he bellowed

With a shout that shook the city, all four of his over sized arms flickered out the grab the robots one, handily tearing the appendage from its socket. a spray of metal and circuitry exploded outwards.

As gravity took hold and began dragging him back towards the ground, Four Arms brought the robots separated arm up and over his head, bringing it down and across the robots body with all the force the Ultimate Tetramand could bring to bear.

The Zero point robot all but detonated on impact, sending shards of metal outwards like an artillery barrage. The wall separating the test from the outside world nearly crumbling at the onslaught.

Izuku had just enough presence of mind to aim the strike away from the group participating in the test.

This he realized was the clearest thought he'd had since his second transformation. The realization was quickly followed by the rapid beeping and subsequent depowering of the Omnitrix on his shoulder.

In short order, Izuku found himself hurtling towards the ground, much faster than his standard human body could survive.

He frantically reached for the Omnitrix on his wrist, he pressed every button and slammed the dial down as hard as he could.

He even tried to channel One for All through it like he had earlier.

As the ground approached and Izuku squeezed his eyes shut he was abruptly struck from the side, an open palm impacted his face and changing his trajectory.

Not long after he opened his eyes to find himself gently floating the remaining few feet to the ground - amidst the sound of frantic retching sounds from the girl Izuku was quickly coming to think of as his guardian angel.

Back in the viewing room, a different kind of silence dominated the room. All Might had to struggle not to jump for joy, or dance.

The others in the room paid him no mind, instead, a cacophony of questions erupted from everyone at once, each of the judges succintly pressing a button at their side, increasing Izuku's score appreciably.

Touching down Izuku was filled with a wave of exhaustion that left him staggering. He was torn between trying to run off in search of a passing score - or staying to help his savior.

In the end, Izuku's naturally kind nature won out, and he rushed to begin shoving debris off the girl.

Gingerly stepping around the pool of sick in front of her he began working, asking as an after thought;

"Why didn't you just levitate the rubble off you?"

She directed a withering glare at him that caused him to stumble backwards slightly when he saw it.

"I have to be able to touch what I lift. There's just to much rubble for me to reach."

her gaze softened though as she said,

"Thats why, t-thanks."

"Actually I feel I have to thank you." Izuku said earnestly.

"If you hadnt used your quirk on me at the end there I probably would have. . ." he trailed off imagining what could have happened.

 ** _"Aaaaand times UP kiddies! I hope none of you are worriers because the results wont be available until next week!"_**

Izukus eyes glazed over as he totaled all the points he'd gotten.

All three of them. From his single take down.

Failure did not begin to describe what he felt like in that moment.

His thoughts spiraled into ever greater despair. He'd failed. He'd failed All Might. Maybe it wasn't too late to give One for All to someone else. Maybe he could just leave some of his hair with All Might. He could-

"Um. I'm sure you'll be fine. There's no way the school would let a quirk like that go."

The girl said, gesturing at the wreckage of the zero point robot.

It was to much for Izuku. He was too panicked, his mind to focused on his failings. He could feel his dreams flitting away from him. His body felt overtaxed from his previous transformation, and hurt everywhere. Her sympathy and plucky smile were simply too much for him.

Izuku Midoriya fainted.

* * *

In a viewing room on the opposite side of the campus, the discussion amongst the teachers had calmed down.

"That was. . . something."

"I found it somewhat reminiscent of another student to once grace our halls."

A small, rodent like head swivelled towards All Might, prompting every other head in the room to follow.

A bedraggled man with long unkempt black hair chimed in. His eyes appeared strained and dry, as though he had not slept in days.

"We have to take him. If only to keep that kind of monstrous quirk off the street."

"You insinuate that he would be a criminal if we did not take him?"

"No. But when your quirks a hammer, problems start to look an awful lot like nails."

"Noted."

Unbeknownst to the the janitor, who had come in and taken up position at the rear of the room sometime earlier was staring with hooded eyes at boy on the screen. The edge of a hawaiin shirt peaked out from beneath his blew janitors overalls, and he very much wished he could go back to cleaning the room unbothered by what appeared to be a disguised Tetramand taking a test for Heros on Earth.

* * *

Izuku awoke alone and in his bed. He imagined someone had found where he lived and simply dropped him here after his spectacularly terrible showing during the test. He stared blankly at the ceiling for a few moments more before rising from bed to begin an excercise routine so ingrained in him after all these months that he hardly noticed it.

Izuku wasn't altogether non plussed by the situation. He had a quirk now, technically. He could apply again, or apply at a different school. But to him, that wasn't the point. The point was that by giving someone like him, someone entirely unworthy of it, his quirk, All Might had passed a torch. He'd expected Izuku to rise to replace him, and in choosing wrong, had taken One for All, one of the most powerful forces for good there was - off the board.

He shuddered at the thought. Half the reason crime was so far down was as a result of the simple fact that All Might could jump almost anywhere from nearly anywhere else, at least in the small island nation of japan. You literally could not hide from the man.

He glanced down at his left hand while his right clamped shut a Grip Strengthener repeatedly. The unassuming device on his wrist made no move to respond to him. Back during the test, against the Zero, he'd almost sworn it was alive and responding to him. To his thoughts. Now it was as inert as any other object.

Slowly, releasing his grip on the exercise machine, he reached for the Omnitrix. Izuku gingerly pressed one of the buttons on the side of the dial, and marveled as it popped up and out of its casing, revealing a rotating hologram of varying silhouettes spinning around its emerald display. He slowly spun the dial noting the silhouette of what he'd taken to thinking of as Four Arms, but recognizing none others. He wished he'd asked All Might what he'd looked like that day on the beach - if only so he could avoid the blindness the form brought with it.

He needed to get his mind of his failure. Already he could hear his mother at the door, gently knocking, asking if he was alright - something that prompted him to stop the running commentary he typically began unnoticed whenever stress reared its head.

"I'm fine Mom." He checked the clock. It was early evening. He quickly grabbed his tracksuit and made for the door, smiling at his mother as he passed.

"I'm going for a run Mom. I'll be back for dinner."

"Sweety it's been a long day don't you think you should-"

"It's fine Mom. I swear."

Izuku's mother did not look convinced. Maybe it was because Izuku was both a horrible liar, AND telegraphed his fear regardless of the expression he was wearing. More likely, it was simply because she was his mother. Regardless, she shrugged as he made his way out the front door and prayed for his well being.

Izuku found himself at the beach again. He always seemed to come back to this place. All Might had told him here, that **he** was worthy. That the defense of the next generation would be left to him. The weight of that still hadn't settled well on Izuku. But that did not mean he was paralyzed with fear. No, Izuku, as someone who was nearly **always** afraid, found that more than anything fear spurred him forward.

So he would move forward. He quickly released the dial on the Omnitrix, cycling through the forms on it. He didn't have time to wait. He'd just gotten his quirk. Of course he'd be behind everyone else in the exam - they'd been practicing since birth. He would have to work twice as hard as anyone else just to break even. He'd have to work even harder to be the best. So now wasn't the time to mope.

"Come on Izuku, smile, cus' its Hero Time."

* * *

A week later, Izuku wasn't just gratified by the acceptance letter from no less than All Might himself. He was validated. He'd done not what was beneficial to himself - but what a true hero would have done, and he had been recognized for it.

He was elated. He was practically walking on air as he exited the classroom, his teacher having just congratulated both himself and Kacchan on their acceptance into UA.

He took him several moments to realize he was LITERALLY walking on air.

 _"WHAT DID YOU DO YOU GOD DAMN NERD!?"_

Katsuki Bakugou, or Kacchan, had grabbed Izuku by his collar and hurled him against the nearest wall the minute they'd past out of sight of any on lookers.

"Kacchan I-"

 _"SHUTUP! WHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT CHEAT DID YOU PULL HUH!? NO WAY A QUIRKLESS NOBODY LIKE YOU GOT INTO UA FAIR AND SQUARE!"_

Izuku could never be angry at Kacchan. He only ever saw the neighborhood boy he'd grown up with when he yelled at him. He just wished he could explain, tell Kacchan that he too had a quirk now. That they were equals. That they could be partners in crime, like they were as kids.

"So whats that then, some kind of new nerd watch?" Bakugou abruptly interrupted Izuku's thought process.

He looked down and realized that without thinking his hands had moved, and the Omnitrix's raised dial glowed invitingly beneath is right hand.

His hands parted, curling up into fists at his side. He wasn't here to fight. He **didn't** wan't to hurt Kacchan.

"I'm not the weak kid I was before Kacchan."

 _"I DON'T CARE WHAT-"  
_

"AND I EARNED MY SPOT AT UA."

Izuku stared at Bakugou, intending to convey his conviction. His will to be a hero.

Bakugou only saw menace. A threat. A challenge to his authority. He dropped Izuku where he was, and whirled around, presenting his back to him.

"Just stay outta my way Deku. I don't want people to connect us when you eventually wash out." Bakugou declared, spitting on the ground at his feet before walking away.

* * *

Izuku marched to class on his first day like a dead man to his maker. Stress did not begin to describe the sensation filling him. He briefly considered transforming for class, and then realized that, since he had no means of judging how long a transformation would last, it would, at best, make him stand out, and poorly at that.

Instead he nervously stood, frozen in front of the too large door to his designated classroom of 1-A.

"Hey! You got in!"

A bright, girlish voice he recognize chimed from behind him.

"Indeed. It was foolish of me to judge you upon our first meeting. Clearly I have much to learn. Quite ingenious of you, figuring out the test as you did."

A somewhat nasally, voice that he also recognized, though he didn't particularly like its owner at the moment.

The boy and girl he'd met on the way to the entrance exam stood behind him, smiling, though the boys face was quite stern.

"Tenya Iida." was all the larger boy said, nodding in recognition and holding a hand out towards Izuku.

He shook it, tentatively, as the girl next to him said, hands clasped behind her head;

"Ochaco Uraraka. Man you _wrecked_ the arena you know. Your suuuuper aggressive for such a plain looking guy."

That statement bothered Izuku for a moment, though he couldn't place his finger on why.

As they entered the classroom together he was immediately met with the sight of a sneering Bakugou, sitting back in his chair, feet up on his desk.

Before he could think of something to say, or a way to evade the problem, a tired voice sounded out from behind him.

"If your all done palling around. I don't like wasting time."

That was when class 1-A had the dubious pleasure of meeting their homeroom teacher. Aizawa Shota.

* * *

Thirty minutes later class 1-A found themselves in their gym uniforms, newly made, standing in the sports field behind the main school building. Aizawa, now much more lively, smiled sinisterly at them.

"Now, I'm going to illustrate a point to you all. You may have passed the exam, but you are not _guaranteed_ your spot here at UA."

He fiddled with a handheld device for a few moments before looking back up at the class.

"What were going to do here, is retake your standardized physicals. But this time, with your quirks. The person who scores last on average, will be expelled."

That was pretty much all Izuku needed to hear. Whether this was simply a trick to push them to their limits, or the reality of the situation, there was nothing to gain by holding back here.

He began to fiddle with the Omnitrix, rotating the dial until it came to rest on the form of the Four Armed form he'd taken previously.

"What are you-"

Uraraka, looking on curiously began to ask when his hand slammed down on the dial drawing everyones attention as the brilliant emerald light exploded out from him.

His world expanded, his brain accelerating to untold speeds, knowledge flooding him. Objects all around him grew larger, and he could feel the change take hold. When it was complete he stared bewildered. Dead ahead, at eye level, was Uraraka's calve.

He hadn't turned into Four Arms. No, he had turned into the much, smaller, less physically useful of the ten forms locked inside the Omnitrix. He had become the form he had affectionately referred to during practice as -

"Grey Matter!?"


	4. In the Hot Seat

**Just to clarify some things. One for All doesn't really interact with the base forms of any of Izuku's aliens. Grey Matter is still basically as weak as Grey Matter usually is. One for All does two things so far in this fic. Allow Izuku to go Ultimate, and one other thing that I don't want to spoil. Thanks for your continued support and reading :D. Todays chapter is probably going to be a bit short. I have some things to do today and I kind of enjoy ending a chapter on a transformation.**

Izuku's first thought, was to panic. To scream and flail and run in little circles.

The thing was, he realized he couldn't. His current form lacked the necessary Biology to 'panic'. Instead he found himself examining the issue from all angles. There was a beauty of sorts to it. Like No detail could escape his attention. He rapidly calculated his high scores for each of the given exercises provided he remained in the diminutive form of Grey Matter, and without even a pause disregarded it as a solution.

If he knew how to turn the Omnitrix off voluntarily, he could voluntarily suffer the lockout that came from a recent useage of the device and simply rely on his own fitness. Not everyone in the class had a quirk that lent itself to physical exertion, he could see that now.

He quickly disregarded that as anything more than an option for if the Omnitrix timed out on its own. While he felt like all the knowledge of the universe was at his finger tips, like google was pale attempt at matching his mental catalog of information, somehow, applying his vast intellect to the Omnitrix left him blank. Not blank. Blocked rather. As though he was not MEANT to understand the workings of the device.

It was infuriating to say the least. Izuku considered using One for All again, but he had not done so since the entrance exam. And was leery of the results.

"Uraraka Ochaco."

"Eh?"

Uraraka had been brazenly staring at the diminutive being Izuku had turned into. Most of the class had. It'd only been a few moments since the transformation, and their minds could only process information so fast. That struck Izuku as somewhat derogatory, but he let it pass.

"If you would kindly, I would like a higher vantage point, and if possible access to your cellular device. Your shoulder perhaps?"

He pointed archly at her right shoulder with one of the three fingers on his hand.

"Um. Ok. . .how come you didn't turn into the big red guy? Like before? Y'know, all smash and bang and stuff."

She said wrapping a hand around his Torso and gently lifting him up to her shoulder where he sat himself down in the crook of her neck.

"My. . .quirk allows me to take one of ten specialized forms for different tasks. I do not always receive the form I want."

"Right. So then. . . hows my _cellphone_ going to help you?" the plucky girl asked, holding the device just out of his reach, self consciously.

"I assure you your juvenile interests and and wish for privacy mean nothing to me. Your device will remain safe." as an afterthought he added,

"My apologies. I suspect the biology of my current form makes it somewhat easy to behave in a sociopathic manner. I hope you will not hold it against me when I return to normal."

She narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance before dropping her cellphone on him.

"If you damage my cellphone I'll throw you so far you won't know what prefecture your in."

". . .noted."

Izuku made a point of only beginning to take apart her phone when it became her turn to perform a test.

He reassembled the it, and ensured his continued placement at the school in under 15 minutes. He spent the remaining time (during which he made no attempt to take even a single test) watching the other students, and examining there quirks. He made note of several to ask questions of later, before moving over to stand next to their teacher, , Urarakas cellphone held under one arm as though it were a surf board.

It was only when all other tests were complete and face turned to him with a predatory smirk that he enacted his plan. It was quite simple really, provided everyone was listening.

"Now then, since Midoriya here doesnt deign to test with everyone else-"

"I assure you Shota Aizawa, that regardless of what you may think, I have worked to maintain my position here."

"Oh?"

"You see under my arm I have modified one Uraraka Ochaco's cellphone into a small scale terminal. I will likely have to return it to its original configuration in four and a half minutes in order to prevent it from melting. This will be sufficient."

"That _doesn't_ sound like-"

"If you'll let me finish. You see if you check your own terminal, you'll find all my scores to be exemplary. You'll also find your own scores from your time here. My scores are an average of everything I would have been able to do in my standard human form. As your quirk provides you with no physical advantage, they should be comparable to my own."

Izuku let that sit for a second, mostly because he enjoyed interrupting Aizawa. The teacher remained silent, his expression unreadable.

"They are not. My averages far exceed your own. Should you choose not to believe the accuracy of my estimates, I would also present to you a number of embarassing moments in your life, linked to the speaker system of the school."

"As if you could-"

Izuku cut him off, hit a button that began playing what sounded suspiciously like a drunk Aizawa badly singing A-Ha's 'Take On Me'. He allowed it to play for no more than 3 seconds before pausing the recording.

"The bar had a security system which uploads every 4 hours to a database at the security companies head office where it remains for a total of 4 years before being erased."

The majority of the class watched on in stunned horror as Aizawa stiffly turned to the rest of the class, and explained that he had been lying about cutting the lowest scorer - to motivate them.

Katsuki Bakugou alone stared at the grey skinned little demon as it rearranged the innards of Urarakas phone. Katsuki Bakugou alone chose to call out the nerd for cheating.

"DEKU YOU FREAKING NEEEERRRDDDD!"

He roared towards Izuku, who glanced up at him, ophidian eyes turning to glance at before returning to the repair of Uraraka's cellphone. As though Bakugou wasn't even there.

And in truth he may as well not have been. Within moments of beginning his march Bakugou found himself suspended in the air by a handful of the silver ribbons that were always present with their teacher. Aizawas eyes opened to their fullest and bored holes into him, and he found that he couldn't even use his quirk.

"That will _not_ be tolerated here Bakugou. Do it again and _you'll_ be the one cut from this program."

A moment of silence passed as Bakugou stopped struggling. A brilliant emerald light illuminated the field, and Izuku was back. Human again, and staring at him with pity. That was when Bakugou realized that Izuku had been tricking him all their lives. Lying about not having a quirk, just so he could make him look stupid here and now.

It didn't matter, of course, that such a plot would require far more malice and calculation than Izuku had ever really displayed. Nothing really mattered to Bakugou at that point. He etched Izuku's figure into his mind. He was going to _crush_ _him._

Back in class Aizawa had promptly left them to self study, curling up into his sleeping bag and blacking out muttering about troublesome kids.

Izuku, for his part sat with his face in his desk beet red and terrified. He'd threatened his teacher. _His own teacher!_ He was supposed to be a Hero! He'd turned into Grey Matter during his week of practice, but never around other people. It hadn't occurred to him that such an analytical mind could be so. . . ruthless! Their wasn't even any malice in the actions he'd taken that day. He'd simply determined that it would get him what he wanted, and that he could get away with it! He was really begining to dislike the slight changes in personality his other forms invoked.

His classmates, meanwhile, had gathered around him like flies, some congratulating him, many of them questioning him on the specifics of his quirk. Amidst the din, a girl whose long black hair was pinned up a top her head and whose figure his classmate Mineta had described as 'bangin' tilted her head, asking;

"So, Deku, you effectively have ten quirks then?"

He banged his head on his desk again, as he had every time someone had mistakenly called him Deku, even as he recalled the girls name from the files on terminal. Gritting his teeth he raised his head, and said;

"Yes. Also er, Yaoyorozu, my names n-not Deku. Thats just an insulting nickname Kacchan made up." He gestured towards the only student in the class not participating in the lively conversation.

Uraraka chuckled, pointing out "But, Deku's kind of cute right?"

"CALL ME DEKU!"

Mineta, who sat not far from Izuku flared his nostrils and gave his perceived comrade a huge thumbs up.

The rest of the class couldn't decide if it was sadder that Izuku was such a sucker, or that Uraraka genuinely didn't seem to notice.

The next day, All Might had promptly arrived, presenting the class with their Hero outfits, and ushering them out to one of the testing arenas.

Izuku dressed with a certain degree of trepidation. He admired All Might to the point of having his costume based on him, But for much of his life he'd been scrawny, and looked down upon. He wasn't by any means ugly, or unhealthy, but Bakugou's constant predations had made it clear that everyone around was to insult him. That had been his life. And well, in retrospect, this costume was a little tight. He'd have to pester his mother about it later.

He strode out into the arena amidst his classmates, still not _quit_ feeling their equal. In recent days he'd internalized his work ethic. He knew that he had to work twice as hard to break even, and more than that if he wanted to be the _best_.

Unbeknownst to him, somewhere in the rear of the mob a handful of the girls were commenting on the guys outfits.

"Iida's isn't super flattering."

"It's armor. Its not supposed to be."

"Is Mineta wearing a _diaper?_ "

"Bakugou's looking nice."

"Right? He'd be super hot if he wasn't always scowling."

"And Izuku he's. . ."

The group paused to consider, before Ashido, the boisterous purple skinned girl snikkered saying;

"He's cut like diamonds. I mean. You could grate cheese on him hes so-"

Izuku suppressed a shudder noting the girls snikkering and looking at him. Definitely a baggier outfit.

It took very little time for All Might to sort them into groups and assign them their task. They were to enter as pairs into a building, with one pair defending a fake weapon as villains, and the other pair winning provided the could reach and touch the 'weapon'.

In what he was beggining to think was an intentional move, he was paired with the only other student hed spent any realy time being friendly with - Uraraka.

Mineta, who had at some point assumed the role of Izukus friend stood near by, fuming at his partnership with another boy.

"Listen man, you gotta do this for both of us."

"Wuh?"

"You gotta take this opportunity to make a grab at her man!"

Mineta continued on like that until Izukus team stepped up to take their turn. Izuku largely chose to ignore him, not having the heart to simply tell him to shut up as many of the girls had already had to.

It wasn't until his OPPONENTS were announced that he was shocked from the carefree feeling of a normal highschool student.

Katsuki Bakugou, and Tenya Iida.

Bakugou leered at him during the announcement, a horrific smile plastered across his face.

"Um. Dont you know that guy? Whys he so. . ."

"Mean? I don't really know."

"I was going to say villainous."

Izuku had to think about it for a moment, and he couldnt really fault the description. Even if he didnt like it.

He and Uraraka awaited the starting signal, just outside the dilapidated building Bakugou and Iida were setting up in.

The remainder of the students had followed All Might to the viewing room. Izuku readied the Omnitrix, hand just over the dial, hiding the outline of the form he'd chosen.

"So whatre you gonna look like this time?"

"Hopefully, XLR8. Hes super fast. We should be able to avoid fighting altogether if we use your power and come in from the roof."

"Acc..elerate? Thats not really a name.."

"X-L-R-8. He talks to fast to be understood mostly. I have to stretch out single letters to be coherent."

"Cool. But what if-"

 **"Alllll right, BEGIN!"**

Izukus hand slammed down on the Omnitrix before Uraraka could finish her question.

The familiar glow exploded over the side of the building. Looking down to find himself looming over Uraraka, Izuku with some annoyance, realized that he was _not_ XLR8.

Uraraka covered her face and stepped away from Izuku. Heat rolled off him in waves.

He was taller now, As tall as Aizawa at least, and covered fro. head to toe in molten rock and fire.

As far as Izuku had been able to tell he WAS molten rock and flame.

"Heatblast huh? Doable I guess."

Realizing Uraraka steadily creeping away from him, Izuku looked down to find the road melting beneath him.

He mentally adjusted his flames so theyd be safe to touch, and then stepped gingerly towards Uraraka.

"Sorry, not used to this one. I wont burn now, promise."

She slowly stepped up to him, eventually waving a hand harmlessly through the flames emanating from his body.

"How is that even possible?"

"Dunno. Just sorta comes to me. Im not fond of this one. Its nor good for much except -"

An explosion wrang out from the building above them.

"DEKUUUUU! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

"...Blowing stuff up."

He shrugged, and using Urarakas power, they leapt to the top of the building.


	5. Victim of Circumstance

**Two things. One, a vast majority of the damage an explosion does comes from concussive force released in the explosion. The blast wave as it were. I assume Bakugou has to be pretty durable because he's often just sort of standing in his own explosions. Two. Bakugou's hatred of Izuku early in the series borders on the insane, and I'm kind of hoping to take a different route with it here.**

 **And yes Izuku will unlock other aliens eventually.**

Izuku stopped as they landed on the roof and Uraraka returned them to their normal weight.

The fact that he was Heatblast changed his plan drastically. He couls no longer be the aggressor, since there was no way theyd be able to cope with Bakugou if he was near there objective.

No, Izuku had to rely on one simple fact to win this.

"DEKUUUUUUU!"

Bakugou's enraged screams rang out beneath them.

Izuku took a deep breath - something, he realized, he wasnt sure he had to do in this form - and explained his plan to Uraraka.

Back in the control room, there was much confusion to be had. The class was unsure as to what Izuku and Uraraka were doing. They were on a time limit afterall.

"Whats he just standing there for? He looks super beefed up. Why not just rush the bomb?"

Mineta spoke up, earning annoying looks from at least half the class.

"Because fighting isn't the point. Winning is." spoke the enigmatic Todoroki from the back of the group, eyes riveted to the burning form of Heatblast.

"Observe."

All eyes returned to the screen.

Uraraka had stepped well away from Izuku, as he raised his to either side of him and began jettisoning and intense flame into the roof beneath him in the shape of a perfect circle.

Within moments the roof caved in beneath him, the burning hunks of rubble slamming into the ground on the next floor.

Izuku looked around for only a moment to get the his bearings before continuing to pour on the heat. on the fourth floor he passed, he saw the bomb an immense and cartoonish construction of metal too big to easily move.

"Uraraka! Fourth down!"

He bellowed, before power his heat up to the maximum, all but surfing the slag down until he reached the bottom floor, where his eyes locked with Bakugou as he was turning a corner into the empty room hed found himself in.

Izuku lept forward, under the the right hook he new Bakugou would always open with, and spear tackled the enraged blond to the ground. An open palm slammed into the grouns beneath them, blowing a hole clear through to the basement of the building.

"Lets go for a ride Kacchan."

Izuku said determinedly as they slid into darkness below.

There was a loud chorus of shrill screams in the viewing room. Ashido twisted from side to side in apparent delight.

"Deku's definitely the bottom"

"B-but that declaration was so...!" A pair of seemingly disembodied hands waved about frantically in response.

Mineta, for his part refused to believe such slander of his friend. Instead he wonderered briefly if the invisible girl was naked right now.

Sensing this, many of the girls closed ranks and began glaring at the diminutive lecher.

Back in the building, Uraraka had lightened herself, and gently drifted down to the fourth floor. Iida, not being a fool, had shoved the surprisingly light objective of the game into an easily defensible corner.

They gazed across the room at each other , shuffling left and right to block the other from their goal. Uraraka released an irritated sigh. There really was no way for her to get to the device past Iida. He was simply too fast with his quirk, especially once she leapt, being unable to change her trajectory.

She hoped Izuku would hurry up in the basment.

Fire spread all around them as they landed, Izuku releasing his fire in every direction but at Bakugou. He leapt from the rubble and away from his long time frenemy, narrowly avoiding a detonation in the space his torso had been. He wasnt sure how durable Heatblast was. He hadnt had the guts to openly hurt himself in each form to find that limit. He assumed Bakugous blasts would still hurt him though.

"You think this is a joke you freaking NERD!? Youve been fooling me this whole time, treating me like an idiot."

Bakugous voice grew increasingly calm as he spoke, pulling himself from the rubble around him.

"Well no more of this shit. Were gonna have it out Deku. And when were done your gonna know - "

An explosive blast hurled Bakugou forward, a rocket powered right hook already making its way towards Izukus shoulder.

The blast sent him sprawling into a nearby wall. And he could somehow feel parts of his stone form cracking. He really hoped damage didnt carry between forms.

"That theres no place for you here." the boy with the explosive personality finished.

Izuku released a jet of flame from his hands, fling him to his feet, ignoring the pain in his shoulder. He could use most of Bakugous own techniques in this form, but he'd never be as good as someone whod been practicing with them their whole life.

It didn't matter. A fistfight wasnt the important part of the plan.

Reasoning that Bakugou must be pretty durable to survive his own quirk, Izuku launched into action - charging his fists with incandescent flame, and launching streams of plasma behind them to add stength ans speed to his blows.

Bakugou responded in kind, ear frustration on his face at the blatant plagiarism of his skill.

"Even this - EVEN _THIS!_ " he screeched.

Izuku and Bakugou exchanged blows like men posessed. At a certain point each of them gave up on defending themselves, simply pooring more strength into thwir strikes.

All the while the dingy sealed basement had begun to fill with flame. Flame that stayed curioisly away from the area the two fighters were brawling.

"So cool. So manly! Gah! Whens my turn!?" A spiky red haired man bellowed.

The boy with the multi coloured hair turned his back on the screen, checking his own costume in preparation.

"Your gonna miss it Todoroki. My boys raging out there." a thoroughly roughed up Mineta said from the corner hed been relegated to.

"I've no need to see the rest. Deku will win - and his use of flames is too pathetic to bother using him as 'practice'"

"Whatever man." The smaller boy said. Either missing, or ignoring the somewhat ominous phrasing he had used.

"Huh? Bakugou's. . . slowing down?"

Back in the basement of the building, the fire burning across the basement floor had reached its peak, smoke permeated the air, and neither Izuku nor Bakugou could easily see the other through it.

Bakugou however, was beggining to slow down. Much more so than simple tiredness would explain. His vision grew hazy, and he grew confused.

"What. . .did you do. . .?"

"Sorry Kacchan. You lost sight of the prize. This was never a fist fight. Our powers are too similar. There was only one difference."

Izuku lowered his head so it was mere inches from Bakugous, nearly unmoving form.

"Only _one_ of us needs to _breath_ "

"F.."

Izuku gently lifted the immobile form of Bakugou over his shoulder, and absorbed the flames he'd kept constrained to this room. He leaned the other boy against a wall just outside the building awaiting treatment for smoke inhalation, and then rocketed up through the whole he'd made in the building on a jet of flame.

Not long after that, the duo of Uraraka and Izuku cornered Iida - and won the match.

That day, many of the following matches were exciting, none of them matched the intensity of Izuku and Bakugou's.

As he was leaving the school that evening, Izuku found himself facing down Bakugou once more. He sat just outside the school gates with seeming indifference towards all others who passed.

Izuku tried to sidle past unnoticed in the crowd but Bakugou immediately matched pace with him. They lived in the same neighborhood so there was no way Izuku was going to be able to split off from him.

Silence reigned between them, and Izuku found himself idly scratching his wrist near the Omnitrix, his thumb repeatedly brushing the catch that would activate the dial.

Turning to face the taller boy Izuku opened his mouth to speak, but froze at the expression of frozen anger on Bakugou's face."How long." was all he said.

"I don't-"

"How long have you _had that quirk?_ "

Izuku allowed his hand to fall away from the omnitrix

"Kacchan. . .I don't what to say. It just sort of happened a few months ago. Out of nowhere."

 _Out of the sky actually._

Izuku thought to himself, wisely withholding that bit of information.

Much of the anger drained out of Bakugous face at that. It wasn't any easiee to accept his loss. Thinking about it still infuriated him. But he'd known Deku most of his life and well. . .

"You look like I just toom your lunch money."

"Well I mean - "

"Not now. All the time. I ever actually hurt you?"

"W-well. . ."

Izuku had to decide if feelings counted to Bakugou or not. Probably not.

"N-no. Not. . .physically?"

He hadn't meant to phrase it as a question, but Bakugous resting scowl was still a bit more than Izuku wqs comfortable challenging outside of class.

"Right. Because I'm not like you, or those other small fry. I'm -"

He was cut off by the shrill sound of a girl screaming.

Bakugou and Izuku were off like bullets before the sound had finished.

Despite their differences, Izuku knew, more than anyone, that Bakugou was a Hero with a capitol H at heart.

They had different approaches to things, and Bakugou was definitelt abrasive. But in the end - he was exactly as suicidally focused on his goal as Izuku.

Actually, Izuku had never really thought about how lethal many of the things he did were.

He supposed that the two of them _had_ grown up together.

The duo rounded the corner of the street and found themselves standing at the mouth of a narrow alley, with the backs of a three men facing them.

They were surrounding a girl in UA's uniform, a complicated seeing apparatus sat atop her head of messy pink hair. Her bizzarre target shaped pupils shifted between the trio of men as she spoke.

"Hatsume incorporated takes no responsibility for any after effects, side effects or consequences of using our devices so -"

"The cops used your **junk** to track down our boss!"

"You didn't tell me you wanted to use my **magnificent inventions** to rob a bank you two bit hack!"

The three men, all of them wearing outfits suitable for excercise, each reached into their gym bags, withdrawing long iron rods the length of a baseball bat, that began to spark with electricity at the press of a button.

That was all Izuku needed. With a click he engaged the Omnitrix, exploding into a blaze of green light as he flung himself forward.

Hard green chitin covered his body and extra arms and legs grew from him, even as his eyes split into four indendent stalks on his face, splitting his vision discomfortingly. Immense buzzing insect wings unfurled behind him and he immediately took to the air.

The odious voice of Stinkfly wrang out through the alleyway.

"Back off the girl!"

He might aswell not have bothered. Bakugou had already blasted forward to unleash a terrible right hook on the nearest criminal, sending the man sprawling against the wall with his neck at an angle that only slightly worried Izuku.

"Ambush you stupid nerd!" he barked.

Izuku didnt bother to mention that this was a lesson he had _jus_ t taught Bakugou in class. He didn't think it would go over well.

With a shrug, Stinkfly flew over Bakugou and the other assailants to the girl at the rear of the alley.

"Hop on!" he buzzed, presenting the horizontal portion of his torso.

She hesitated briefly, and Izuku was forced to launch of glob of sticky fluid at the nearest man, who had begun to run towards them.

Izuku really hated that his primary means of attack as Stinkfly was essentially to cry glue onto people, but he couldnt fault that he was good at it.

The man found his foot stuck to the ground mid stride, forcing him to fall on his face.

"Any time now lady!" he said, shaking his torso so she'd get his point through the incessant buzz that his voice had become.

"Apologies. You know, I have a series of waxes that would make your shell just shine!" The girl spoke, actinf for all the world as though nothing was wrong.

"What? No! I don't need - nevermind. Kacchan, lets go!"

Izuku's patience was already running thin, so he zoomed over head spraying the glue like substance over the alley, eventually grabbing Bakugou around two out stretched arms, and flying off as fast as he could while carrying two people.

That was, as it turned out not fast enough. In short order the trio of students found themselves fleeing a large jeep, crammed full of more goons than the average clown car. A bright orange affair with the words Fistricks Supplements emblazoned on the side in white.

The streets were largely deserted, and Izuku was sure that if they could reach a populated area that a proffessional hero would come save them. Unfortunately, this was the moment a number of the passengers chose to lean out their windows, guns in hand.

"Crap!" he buzzed.

"Bakugou, can you-"

Izuku was promptly cut off by a fourth voice he didnt recognize as being either Bakugous _or_ Hatsumes.

"Amateurs." spoke the haughty female voice, before a bright pink light shot out, forming a loop in the road before the oncoming car.

The driver, unable to change course fast enough, was forced to watch as his vehicle hit the ramp, sending it sprawling into the air, and crashing down several meters in the opposite direction - upside down.

When Izuku and the others turned from the wreckage to see the source of their aid, they saw A tall, slender girl of foreign decent standing on a thin pink disc in front of them. Her orange hair was pulled up in a taught ponytail, and her mid length black skirt and blue sweater left the impression of someone who was all business.

"So." she said, raises an eyebrow cockily at Izuku.

"You've got something thats not yours."

 _That_ filled Izuku with dread. Because unlike the rest of the group he knew what she was talking about.

It was the Omnitrix.


	6. Flushed Out

Izuku flitted backwards, towards the wrecked car, landing and releasing Bakugou from his grip. The girl - Hatsume he guessed from their brief introduction in the alley - leapt from his back to stand beside the blond boy.

"Why don't we go somewhere else to talk." he buzzed, hoping the agitation wasn't as noticeable through the already agitated sounds Stinkfly always made.

The girl rolled her eyes at him, crouching so she could keep her balance as the glowing disk beneath her sped further off into the outskirts of the city.

Izuku was about to follow after her when Bakugou spoke out behind him.

"Oi." Izuku turned a pair of eyes to look at him.

"We weren't done yet. Who the hell is that. And how did you _suddenly_ get a quirk." For Bakugou, that statement was fairly calm. Despite the threatening tone or the mean spirited grimace on the other boys face, Izuku took the statement for what it was.

"The one is connected to the other, I think anyway." He said matter of factly, turning again to take off after the strange girl.

"Listen nerd! Just because I haven't blown you away yet doesn't mean were buddies now! Don't think you can just fly away to-"

"There are six men in that car who probably need medical attention. I'm sure the heroic thing to do would be to call the police and ensure they all survive. It'd look pretty _bad_ if the guy with the explosion quirk was seen running from a blown up car." He figured that'd keep Bakugou pinned down for a little bit. Or, at least until he realized Hatsume could easily do all that herself.

"YOU DAMN NEERRRRDDD!"

Was the last thing he heard as he flitted away.

Stopping out of eyesight of the crash, The girl had landed herself on the roof of a nearby building. A two story apartment of some kind. He approached cautiously but she merely stared at him nonplussed as he zoomed around the roof to look for traps.

Eventually landing himself, he began asking questions.

"Who are you? What **is** this thing? Why do you even know about it?"

She blinked at him, annoyance clear in her face.

"Change back so we can talk like people. Lepidopterrans are no fun to be around."

He stood there silently for a few moments before returning to his questioning.

"Whats a Lepidopterran?"

She glared at him balefully saying nothing.

"Look we can't just sit here till I time out. No telling when that'll be."

"You don't even know how to turn _back?!"_

She stomped towards him, prompting his wings to buzz into motion, lifting him up and baring his immense scorpion like stinger at her.

With a long suffering sigh she pointed at the Omnitrix dial on his chest.

"Hit it again to turn it off"

Izuku thought that was interesting. His experiences with reactivating the dial while transformed so far had boiled down to just the one time during the entrance exams.

It had not turned him back.

It also, however, had not killed him.

So tentatively, he reached up and pressed the dial.

And suddenly, in a blaze of green light - Izuku, sans his backpack, was standing on the roof where Stinkfly had been.

The woman gazed at him appraisingly. "Your sort of shorter than I thought you'd be."

Izuku merely responded with an uncomfortable shrug.

The foreign woman rolled her eyes at him, for what seemed like the tenth time.

"My name is Gwen Tennyson. You are in possession of a piece of Plumber technology that was intended for. . . someone else. Hand it over."

She said the word 'plumber' as though it had a different meaning than Izuku new, and fished a badge out of a pocket on her skirt that greatly resembled the image on the Omnitrix while it was at rest.

"I can't. . ." Izuku began, then thinking about it, stopped. His experiences to date flashed before his eyes, the battles he'd fought, the people he'd met, and finally All Mights smiling face as he looked down at him, and those fateful words.

 **"You too, can be a hero!"**

He looked up at the girl, Gwen, tightly clutching his wrist where the Omnitrix rested.

"I can't take it off. I don't know how. And even if I did - I wouldn't give it to you."

Gwen seemed to be taken aback by the sudden steel in his voice. His posture as a human had, until that moment, been largely submissive. Pitiful really, if she had to put a word to it.

Now though, the boy was glaring at her so hard she thought she may burst into flames. No time to worry about the discrepancy she supposed, calmly stating,

"Then your under arrest uh -" she paused to consider what the other boy had called him. "Deku."

Too late she realized that Izuku hadn't merely been holding the Omnitrix in an emotional gesture. She lashed out, lobbing a blast of pink energy at him from only a few feet away, but was too late.

Izuku's hand, already laid against the Omnitrix pressed down on the dial. He grew exponentially, and his skin turned a fierce red colour as his arms split and he found himself looking _down_ on the previously taller girl.

The transformation took only moments and the blast of energy she'd hurled exploded on the red hide of Four Arms with a satisfying crack - but the blow did no more than push Izuku's shoulder backwards a few inches.

Izuku jumped across the space between them, hoping to bowl her over long enough to escape, but instead found himself suspended in a bright pink bubble of energy.

Unable to move Izuku began assaulting the orb for all he was worth, laying blow after blow into the walls surrounding him. In short order the field around him began to fracture, and he continued his attack with renewed vigor.

"Your trying to be a Hero aren't you!?" Gwen yelled between pained grunts that matched the rhythm of Izukus punches.

"We're the _good guys_."

"Then maybe _next time_ you'll show up with the cops and a hero!" Izuku bellowed, finally shattering the field around him charging the girl, slamming her into the door leading down into the building. His lower set of arms reach up to restrain her own hands, and one great red forearm was held pressed against her throat.

"But I'm betting you _won't_ do that." Izuku got a thoughtful look on his face.

"In fact, I'm surprised you knew I had the Omnitrix. It looked like you didn't even know my name." realizing she could speak while he choked her, Izuku continued on in his mumbling, more now to himself than her.

"But you do know how I look now. Damn. Stupid." he chided himself.

When the Gwen finally fell still, he made a note of his location, ensured she was breathing, and leapt away, only pausing to return to normal and call the police when he was well away from her.

Several hours later Gwen awoke in the back of a dilapidated camper she knew all too well. An old man in a Hawaiian shirt drove along the streets of the city, smiling charmingly back at her as he heard her wake.

"G..Grandpa?"

"I know I _told_ you about him, but I don't remember telling you to _pick a fight_ with him Gwen."

"Grandpa! He _stole_ the Omnitrix! It wasn't _meant_ for him! It was meant for. . ." she trailed off noticing the hard look in his eyes.

"Me. Yes I know. But that _doesn't_ mean I want you to run off and assault another kid."

"He stole-"

"He didn't actually. From what we can tell he found it before Vilgax could, so he's actually done us a favour."

"But!"

"Gwen, enough."

The old man in the Hawaiian shirt hadn't change his tone at all. He still smiled beatifically and drove calmly. But Gwen knew that the conversation was over.

". . . Fine."

For Izuku, the next day of class was awkward to say the least. Bakugou made no attempt to speak to him, acting for all the world as thought **nothing** had

happened. He didn't tell the class about their misadventures the previous day, and neither, Izuku decided, would he. Although that was for entirely _different_ reasons.

Much to the surprise of the majority of the class, Aizawa arose from behind his desk as though he'd never left, his sleeping bag dropping around him while he spoke.

"Get your outfits - were going on a field trip." the command was spoken in the same, dry exhausted tone Aizawa always had, but Izuku felt he detected a

certain amount of glee in the statement.

Class 1-A immediately exploded into frenzied questioning - they were silenced, surprisingly by Bakugou.

"Oi." The class froze as the hotheaded teen glared at them through half lidded eyes.

Despite having ignored Iidas attempts to achieve the same effect, and who'm the class had mutually elected class president, the class of 1-A returned to order, splitting up to change into their outfits.

Less than an hour later, the students found themselves atop a great stairway, only a mile or so off campus, leading into what appeared to be one of the most bizarre theme parks they had ever seen. All around them were scale examples of major disasters and environmental hazards. Aizawa was unimpressed, but their guide, Thirteen, the Space Hero, all but gushed as he led them along the path towards the different areas.

It was only after they had finished listening to an impassioned speech on the nature and best use of quirks by Thirteen, did the close realize something wasn't quite right.

The light around them began to dim and from portals all about them, hordes of men and women poured out. On completing their task, the portals themselves reformed, into a vaguely manlike shape, just ahead of the class.

In a voice clearly meant to mock that of the greatest hero, the being of pure darkness intoned " _ **We**_ have arrived." Before much of class 1-A was swallowed by darkness.

Izuku found himself sputtering water, unable to tell where he was. His disorientation was short lived, but more than enough for a shark headed man to begin shooting towards him through the water.

"Crap!"

He exclaimed, immediately reaching for the Omnitrix. Izuku had practiced this motion. He could perform from any orientation, from any position. It was only one small brick in the foundation he was building for himself. The Omnitrix made him a gunslinger, and he _always_ wanted to be fastest on the draw.

"ALRIGHT! THE WATERS HAVE BEEN CHUMMED!" The villain said, attempting to sound menacing Izuku was sure, but merely sounding obnoxious.

"SAYONARA SMALL FRY!"

The shark headed mans jaw distended, opening to an unprecedented size as he all but flew through the water towards Izuku, and Izuku had little doubt that he would have died if not for his practice with the Omnitrix.

Before he could reach the device though, he was jerk backwards, away from the jaws coming for him, his hand swiping through the water vainly at where his wrist had been.

"Sayonara small fry." came the voice of his classmate Asui Tsuyu. Looking down Izuku realized the girl had wrapped her tongue around him, and was chargingthrough the water to an object he could barely recognize through the spray of water as she moved. Under her arm he could see Mineta, all by crying indistress and screaming at the top of his lungs;

"fffuuuUUUUUUUUUU-"

The pigmy sized boy was cut off, the air rushing from his lungs as Asui leapt from the water, landing adeptly on the side of what turned out to be a large boat of some kind, crawling up the side of the boat and depositing the two boys on its deck, Asui shook herself off, idly kicking Mineta when his mouth opened and his eyes stayed at chest level.

"Lecher Smurf is right. We're definitely fucked." She said, her voice almost monotone.

Rising from the deck and rubbing his side, Mineta re approached the group, adding his own thoughts.

"I mean, mean and you aren't super combat oriented, but my boy could just turn into the big red guy and smash the shit out of those tools."

"Just Tsuyu is fine." the taciturn frog girl said, turning to look at Izuku questioningly.

Izuku for his part, slammed his hand down on the still raised dial, hoping to make quick work of this so he could return to help his other classmates - who he was sure were also scattered about the area.

 _*bzzt* scanning mode activated, scanning for foreign dna_

The omnitrix cycled through a number of his forms, and he could just see a space begin to open between two of them, before the dial receded, and the device locked.

He stared pensively at the device for a second before raising his eyes to Asui and Mineta, now tinged with fear.

"I-I'm no good. Somethings wrong."

Mineta and Tsuyu stared at him for a moment, before Tsuyu turned abruptly, walking towards the edge of the ship. Mineta, freaked out.

"OH MAN. WERE GONNA FREAKING DIE."

"Were gonna be okay Mineta. The teachers will come soon - I'm sure of it."

"HOW'RE THE TEACHERS GONNA EVEN KNOW WE _NEED_ HELP? MY POWER IS HAVING STICKY BALLS ON MY HEAD MIDORIYA. STICK. BALLS. I WAKE UP EVERY MORNING AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW I GOT _IN_ TO THIS SCHOOL!"

Izuku didn't mentioned that _he'd_ thought that more than once himself. He also had to admit that Mineta could be right. None of the students had been permitted to bring their cellphones on the trip.

As he pondered this, the ship began to shake, gently at first, but more violently as time went on. When eventually the rumbling caused him to stumble he yelped,

"Asui!?" as the frog girl returned from gazing over the edge.

"I told you to call me Tsuyu." she said, her tongue lashing out and pulling him back into balance. She allowed Mineta to tumble about the boat until he reached out and grabbed hold of a railing to steady himself.

"And if I had to guess, since this is a simulation - I'd say the boats sinking."

The aquatic villain that had assaulted him before began to swim eagerly around the boat as it descended, a number of other villains in all manner of underwater and aquatic gear joining him. Despite the danger of the situation Izuku couldn't help but be struck by how perfectly useless all these people would be if they hadn't had a location in water to utilize.

As the water began to rise around them, Izuku found himself leaping to dodge airborne harpoons and ranged attacks from the villains closing in on them, Asui, who was the only of them who could really fight in water, had leapt into the fake lake, and was swimming circles around the most dangerous of the villains she could locate.

Unable to think of a better option, Izuku scooped up Mineta under one arm, and dashed for the stairs leading to a higher part of the ship. The ship, probably owing to the entire thing being a simulation, did not sink very fast, and Izuku managed to place enough space between them and the water that he only occasionally had to look out for ranged attacks.

Unfortunately this meant that the majority of the villains were free to focus on Asui, who was, quickly being cornered by the mob.

Her back to the ship, Izuku watched on with growing helplessness as the attacks of the villains began to land true.

"Damnit." He glanced down at Mineta, dropping him where they stood.

"S-stay here."

"Dude. You can't go down there. You'll freaking _die._ **I'm** more useful than you right now."

Izuku turned to face Mineta and for the first time the smaller boy realized there were tears streaming down Izuku's face. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe him as wracked with fear. He watched with amazement as the cowardly boy in front of him turned away.

"I'm f-fine. I have to help Asui."

Was all he said, before he began sprint madly for the edge of the precipice they were on, leaping directly into the waters below.

Izuku all but crashed into Asui, dragging her several feet under the water and out of the way of an attack by the Shark faced villain, and though wounded, Asui looked genuinely irked that Izuku had saved her. She squeezed her eyes shut as she huddled under the water with Izuku, and the mob of aquatic villains, closed in on them.

Suddenly, the two of them heard a tinny mechanical voice, as the Omnitrix dial popped up displayed a new form over top a strand of hair.

 _*Bzzt* Scan Complete._

Before Izuku could think of the consequences, his arms released Asui, and his hand slammed down on the dial.

The approaching villains were momentarily blinded in the murky waters by the flash of green.

Izuku felt his lungs expand, and a rough green texture flesh explode across his body. He grew to the size of a full grown man, and the muscles in his legs swelled, even as information about his new form flooded his mind, and the Omnitrix provided him with a wetsuit and glasses that fit almost too snugly to his new, now noseless face.

Grabbing Asui, he all but exploded out of the water, his new form well adapted for the environment. His now webbed foot exploded out, catching the shark faced villain with him in his ascent and launching the man ahead of them, where Izukus powerful new legs continued to smash into him, releasing all his pent up frustration.

As he landed on the shore he turned back towards the sinking ship he'd left Mineta on, tensing his legs and ignoring the now unconscious villain as he prepared for another physics defying leap. He turned slightly to Asui as he did so and declared, completely without shame;

"Relax baby, **Bullfrag** is here."


	7. His Battlefield

**Eyy, double post. I love the weekends. Does anyone know any good music to listen to why writing ben 10 stuff? You'd think theird be a good mix of his old openings around somewhere but there really isn't any good renditions.**

Izuku shot from the shore of the man made lake like a rocket, landing nimbly on the deck of the almost entirely sunken ship. The villains had been so perturbed by Izuku' sudden attack that they'd yet to notice Mineta all but cowering in the water behind them.

His tongue shot out of his mouth, grabbing Mineta around an ankle and depositing the boy in his arms.

"You guys ever play Whack-a-Mole?" he asked, plainly disregarding the threat this host of D-List villains posed to him.

Mineta squirmed in his arms, noticing the symbol on Izuku's chest everyone had come to associate with his alternate forms. He quickly rotated in Izuku's arms to look at the villains regarding them suspiciously from the water.

"All you guys are _fucked_. Your about to fight the greatest duo in all of UA's history!" he crowed, and began hurling purple gelatinous balls into the crowded villains. They regrew as fast as he could throw them, and though very few of them hit anybody, they gave Izuku an idea.

Leaping out of the water where the ship once stood, Izuku skidded to a halt on the nearby shore where he'd left Asui, and dropped Mineta once more.

"That'll do partner. See Asui? Got your boyfriend just fine."

Asui's face froze, and though she was rarely expressive, Izuku could swear he saw disgust in it.

"He's _not_ my boyfriend."

"You let him grope you constantly Asui - I assumed you'd have gotten him drummed out for sexual assault by now otherwise."

She seemed to pause for a moment at that, and turned to see Mineta sweating, part way through the motions of a silent cut it out gesture that Izuku had noticed far too late.

A smile crossed her lips, which was why it was surprising when her tongue extended, aimed for Izuku's head in the form of slap she typically used on Mineta.

"I told you to call me-"

Her tongue was intercepted by Izuku's own, which slowly recoiled back into his mouth after deflecting the blow.

"Tsuyu. Hey babe, I heard you the first time, I just didn't wanna be callin' out anothers mans mrs so casually."

Izuku shrugged, dismissing the conversation entirely.

"Lemme clean these mooks up and we can go." and with a deep breath that expanded his chest to cartoonish proportions he was off.

Mineta narrowed his eyes at the retreating form of Bullfrag, and said "Frogzuku is kind of a douche."

He was surprised when he turned to find Asui standing perfectly still, her tongue in the air, staring after him.

When Izuku landed, it wasn't _in_ the water as much as _on_ it. He kicked downwards with such strength and ferocity that instead of slipping into the lake, he simply bounced off of it, popping 10 feet into the air as though he'd kicked concrete. The force of the kick caused a tremendous tidal wave to sweep towards the center of the lake, and he used his tongue on a nearby segment of shore to pull himself towards it. He repeated this process several times, from multiple sides of the lake, all the while the strong waves pushed the villains towards each other, and - perhaps most importantly - Minetas 'sticky balls'.

Before the assembled villains had any idea as to what he was doing, or could get close enough to counterattack, the overwhelming majority of them had pushed into a tremendous ball of flesh and equipment, held together snugly by the strength of Minetas quirk.

Returning to the shore he'd left his classmates on, Izuku looked at them questioningly. "I'm back to where Mr. Aizawa was, you in?"

"Yes.""Fuck No."

Mineta turned to Asui with a look of incredulity on his face.

"Did you hit your head? We _know_ all the villains in **this** area are dealt with. We have no idea about the rest of this place."

"He's got a point princess. Not a lot of safe real estate here." Izuku continued to peer at them from behind his shades.

Asui looked conflicted, and kept glancing between him and the ground. In her head were the joking words of Ashida 'Cut like _Diamond_ '.

She shook her head. She would have an advantage over anyone that came here, at least assuming theyd dealt with all the water based villains. It made the most sense to stay and protect Mineta - who was all but useless in a fight. It was what a Pro would do.

"I'll stay here."

Her dilemma had gone largely unnoticed by the boys - owing mostly to her almost expressionless face and tone of voice. She resolved that Izuku had 10 forms, and it was unlikely she'd see this one again - and so it was a dilemma she'd take to the grave.

Izuku nodded, expanded his just with a deep croaking breath, and launched himself in the distance.

As he flew through the air he noted that his classmates were fighting back on all fronts. There really wasn't anywhere else he needed to lend assistance.

Except. . .

On the shore nearest to the entrance of the park, He saw that Aizawa was beginning to slow. His flagging pace and limited attack power were starting to show, and though almost all the small fry around him were downed, the two villains Izuku had only caught a glimpse of as they portaled in remained.

One was a rail thin, pale man covered in what appeared to be disembodied hands.

The other, was a vicious looking monstrosity of a man, his brain exposed and his muscles nearly exploding out of his skin, which was black as the night sky.

One of the downsides, he realized, of traveling via long jump, was that you could not change directions in the air without significant pains taken.

Izuku had been so distracted trying to see what was going on, that he'd nearly failed his landing, snagging his foot on something and coming to a rolling stop against a stone wall.

By the time he'd reoriented and leapt again, attempting to reach Aizawa, he was all but too late.

The black skinned man loomed over his teacher, one meaty hand wrapped around his head, slamming it into the concrete below, slowly and methodically. He could see hairline fractures beginning to spread from the point of impact, and with a dawning horror immediately launched into a spinning kick at the exposed brain of villain the moment he landed.

It had practically no effect. He felt the impact, but for some reason it hardly budged or even really bothered the monster standing before him.

Acting on his stunned surprised the beast released Aizawa and quickly grabbed Izuku's outstretched leg, yanking on him and the raising its arm, flinging him into the air like rag doll.

It smashed him into the ground, lifting him up, and doing so again, and again. Eventually it flung him into the base of the stairs they were fighting near and Izuku shuddered at the landing.

Pain wracked his body and he dry heaved where he lay, coughing and sputtering with the exertion. Bullfrag was more durable than some of his forms, but he was not by far the _most_ durable.

"HAH! Amazing Noumu. The look on his face. Bonus round clear~" babbled the man in the rear of the area, covered in hands like they were fashion accessories.

"What did you think you were going to do with your silly frog quirk? Hes black but hes not a fly!" The main continued to chuckle as he walked towards Aizawa, crouching down in front of the injured man. His head remained turned to the still conscious Izuku as he reached down and gently touched his teachers forearm. Rapidly, as though watching a video in fast forward, the flesh began to turn to stone and crumble away, revealing the ligaments and muscle underneath, which began to follow suit.

"I mean, Noumu's sole purpose is to defeat All Might. ALL MIGHT brat. What are _you_ going to do to him?"

Izuku was sickened, horrified and most importantly, he was enraged. His vision blurred as he learned that Bullfrag, unlike many of his other forms _could_ cry, and the world around him seemed to slow and darken. As a foe meant for All Might, this Noumu was the bar he was trying to reach. This was the battlefield he had been chosen to fight on. And more than ever he was feeling how amateurish he was. How unready to take up behind All Might he was. How much more strength was going to be required, even to be able to say he deserved the gifts he'd been bestowed with.

In his vision, seven coloured lights glowed dimly in the recesses of the nearby treeline. Only barely visible, to him. Their outlines felt both familiar and alien all at once. They shifted violently between human, one of which even appeared to look like an emaciated All Might, and alien. _His_ aliens he realized. He didn't know why he'd never thought of phrasing it that way but the term felt right. The ever shifting forms glared at him, through him, to the very core of his being - and then vanished.

Time returned to its normal flow and light flooded his vision, the Omnitrix symbol on his just flaring with light as the dial raised once more. There was no time for hesitation or apprehension now. Now time to worry for the side effects. People were counting on him. His fist slammed into his chest in what a familiar observer would have recognized as an Incursion salute, and from the flare of energy an entirely new Bullfrag rose.

He was bigger, nearly as big as Noumu, and his legs were rippling with muscle. His flesh had grown rough and bumpy, as warts of flesh so hard they were nearly stone erupted across his entire body, which had turned a deep maroon color. Before anyone could react he was already in motion flying towards the petrifying villain with enough force to kill him if he had no physical enhancement quirk.

Before he could land the strike though the bulk of Noumu stepped into his path, deflecting his kick with one meaty arm. Unlike the first strike, this one caused Noumu to fall off balance, and the force of the blow flung a gust of wind along his intended path towards his original target.

The scrawny - and ofcourse he was scrawny before Bullfrags perfect physique - villain staggered away from Aizawa, letting the bleeding arm he'd been holding drop to the ground with a painful wet sound thunk.

Bullfrags assault continued, and he rammed kick after kick into the immense form of Noumu, dancing nimbly out of the way before the monster could grab or strike back at him.

"Late game power up?" muttered the scrawny villain. "He's cheating!"

"Tch, whatever. What I said still stands 'Hero'. You can't even hurt - "

"Check again dickless." proclaimed the Ultimate Incursion.

Where Bullfrags kicks had seemed to only slightly faze the black monster, flesh was missing, and muscle was displayed underneath, a faint purple hue to the afflicted areas.

Bullfrag wiggle a wart covered hand infront of him.

"Rougher than a cats tongue, More poisonous than your relationship with your father." It occurred to Izuku, dimly, that this method of fighting was both cruel and needless. With rare exception Bullfrag could kick an enemy unconscious. This . . . this was active torture. A sense of pride swelled up in him. The Incursion Empire would count him one of - no - its _FINEST_ warrior.

He was startled from his thoughts by a wet, meaty, tearing sound. He was shocked to see the monster physically shredding the afflicted parts of its body off. Where his poison had prevent healing before, the newly torn areas regenerated themselves with a speed he could only describe as staggering. He realized with some trepidation that he may **still** lose this fight.

The childish villain he'd been taunting smiled widely at him. It wasn't a smile of joy. It was a slasher smile.

"Noumu, be a darling and kill him already. All Might's sure to be here soon, and this _thing_ is starting to bore me." crowed the man child.

Bullfrag found himself dodging for his life, Now only barely managing to stay ahead of Noumu as it single minded assaulted him. The beast had no sense of self preservation. It merely shredded away its own flesh with anything available if he poisoned it, or found an opening to get more attacks in. And he was getting tired. Where Noumu's movements were the result of the single motion of one massively overpowered muscle group, Bullfrag was being forced, more and more, to dodge from bad positions, having to perform multiple leaps and flips to evade danger.

Deciding on a rash course of action, he flung himself at Noumu in a feint, slipping through the monsters grasp and getting a clear shot at the master of the creature. His tongue shot out - only to be grabbed by Noumu, as a black portal opened between him and his intended target.

He was dragged through the portal so quickly he almost didn't realize what had happened, and was immediately met with the force of one of Noumus fists. Unable to free his tongue from the monsters grasp he found himself punched and dragged back, again, and again.

Eventually, as he was being flung away by another ground shattering blow, the Omnitrix timed out.

He had just enough time to see the terrified faces of Asui and Mineta as they peered from the water over the shore. He landed in a heap of his own broken bones and blood. His eyes had just begun to shut, when he heard the familiar explosion of sound that always heralded justice.

 **"FEAR NOT, FOR _I_ AM HERE!" ** All Might glanced at the fallen form of Izuku, and the at Aizawa still unconscious in the dirt.

 **"AND I ASSURE YOU EVIL DOERS, _YOU_ ARE LOCKED IN HERE WITH _ME_ ".**


	8. Recuperating

**Sorry for the late chapter. Im sick.**

Izuku felt as though he'd only blinked, but when he opened is eyes again time had clearly passed. Bakugou, Todoroki, and if his memory was right, Kirishima - the boy with the hardening quirk, were standing around him.

With consciousness and the fade of adrenaline from his system PAIN became the prevailing sensation in his body. He was all but unable to move save for a slight swiveling of his head, which he realized had been propped up by a smooth, cool block of ice.

His gaze traveled up his body and he realized that much if hin was bent at odd angles. It made him nauseous just to think about. If he wasnt aware of recovery girls presence at the school he'd likely be more terrified.

His vision swam at the slight exertion, and his eyelids began to droop once more when he realized that the trio surrounding

him were staring intently into the distance - he doubted they even knew he was conscious. Lifting his head and gritting his teeth through the pain, he saw All Might, staring down the portal making villain and the petulant man child who'd previously been commanding Noumu. The wreckage of what was obviously a titanic brawl stood out in the background, dust smoke and steam rising from numerous surfaces and swirling around All Might. Noumu was nowhere to be found and the villains looked prepared to retreat - though the hand covered villain seemed enraged at the idea.

In his only semi conscious state it took a few moments to realize what was wrong with the image.

All Might was making no attempt to pursue the villains. He was simply standing amidst an expanding cloud of steam. Steam Izuku had seen before.

All Might was out of time. He was reverting to his smaller powerless form.

 **"NOW! Your trump card is defeated evil doers! You've no chance against me!"**

Izuku could only hear All Might by token of the mans booming voice, but even he could detect the sound of pain in it. Or perhaps _because_ it was the him that knew the powerless All Might he could tell.

 _That_ was why he was all but _inviting_ his foes to leave. A fact not lost on the villains. The pair looked less afraid than they should. They looked prepared to fight.

Groaning in pain, Izuku began flailing his broken limbs, he needed to transform. Any form. Any form that would let him intervene. He had to-

His struggles had clearly draw the attention of his class mates, and Kirishima dropped down to his knees to and grabbed him, stilling his arms.

"Hey man, your fine. Your good. That thing went toe to toe with _All Might_ and you survived against it for like fifteen minutes. Relax, its over."

"N-no, please-" he found himself unable to speak, coughing violentally and in a way that jerked his body painfully around.

Someone had to step in. All Mights words when they first met ran through his mind.

 _"Yep, I can only hold this form for about three hours a day now."_ Izuku blanched and continued to vainly struggle against Kirishima's restraints.

Bakugou and Todoroki had turned to stare at him oddly, as though he were a strange animal they'd never seen before.

The villains in the distance began to move, portals opening to obscure vision of them and All Might.

Izuku stopped struggling but turned his head towards Bakugou and all but cried;

"Kacchan, you have to-" more coughing "- to help All Might!"

Todoroki gave him an exasperated look and said

"All Might doesnt _need_ our help. We'd only be in the way."

Izuku stared unwaveringly at Bakugou. No one would ever believe that All Might could fail. He knew that. But he also knew that they were wrong. All Might was just a man. And right now, a weak one.

" _Tch_ " was all the group heard, before an explosion rocked the earth around them and sent Bakugou hurtling towards the battle like a rocket.

Izuku was glad. Glad because he knew more than anyone else how truly similar to himself that Bakugou was. His mission complete, his body finally gave out - and his eyelids slid shut.

Izuku awoke sometime later to the unfamiliar ceiling of the school infirmary. he was covered in bandages, but felt largely free of the crippling pain he'd had before. He found he could move and feel normally, and was, at worst, just sore.

Recovery Girl stood to one side if the bed, the schools matronly nurse peering at him expectantly, and smiling when he began to move around.

"Ive healed you as best I can. Youll be tired for a day or two and I told them you wouldn't be coming to school tommorow so you could rest."

she paused to grab a tray with his things on it, placing it on a nearby bedside table.

"Your cousin has volunteered to take you home."

That set off alarm bells. Izuku had no cousins. In fact Izuku had very little in the way of extended family.

He quickly scrambled out of the bed and was moving to exit the room in his hospital gown but was immediately stopped by a wall of pink force emanating from behind a nearby curtain.

"Relax Cuz. Your still pretty out if it. Wouldn't want you getting lost on the way home after all."

Spoke Gwen as she stepped into sight.

10 minutes and a change of clothes later, Izuku found himself stiffly marching along the sidewalk home, Gwen in tow.

"So it literally fell out of the sky. You took it, and didn't even try to figure out where it came from."

"I-I have other responsibilities Gwen."

"Were sixteen. Nothing important to you right now matters."

Izuku had to suppress a groan at the statement. He _understood_ her point. He just didn't think it was valid. Since he couldnt or rather, wouldn't explain his situation with All Might to her, he had no real way to refute her.

His hands drifted towards each other whenever she spoke, as though all he wanted was to transform and leave. But she hadn't attacked him yet.

So far she had just been peppering him with questions.

"And you haven't been able to take it off."

It was a statement but she managed to make it sound like an accusation.

"No."

Eventually, he'd simply ignored her. She wasn't attacking him, and she wasn't answering any question _he_ asked so he felt he owed her nothing.

In truth he had alot on his mind. He wanted to see All Might. He wanted to know where Bullfrag had come from. He wanted to know if Bakugou was ok. Most importantly he had to prepare. The sports festival was in a few weeks, and he'd been handed a golden opportunity to plan.

He entered his home to find Bakugou in his living room.

Even more annoying, was that Gwen had slipped in behind him uninvited. The two things so distressed him that he was unae to address either of them before the two met eyes.

"Meathead."

"Prep School."

"I have a name you know its - "

"DEKU! What the hell was that back there!?"

Izuku's head was spinning. He didnt know how much he could reveal about All Might to Gwen. He didnt know how much he could reveal about the Omnitrix and Gwen to Bakugou.

"All Might was hurt Kacchan. He's the symbol of peace yeah. but hes only human." Izuku looked Bakugou in the eyss as he spoke.

Unlike his usual self Bakugou seemdd listless. Less enraged than normal. Glanced around the room and toyed with the television remote as he asked;

". . .Towards the end, I thought I saw All Might s-"

Not infront of Gwen! Izuku thought frantically.

"This is my cousin Gwen!!" he blurted reaching out and jerking Gwen infront of him by her arm.

She whirled around on him in annoyance the minute hed moved her, her hands going to her hips like a berating hoisewife.

"Hey! You can't just manhandle me! Just because Grandpa says your-"

"Oi"

"- safe to leave alone and that he knows someone that vouches for you-"

"Oi"

"Doesn't mean _I_ accept you as -"

"Oi, Bitch. Take a hike."

Bakugou had grown steadily more irritated as he'd been ignored, and eventually hed reverted to the less civil manner he usually conductes himself in.

One clawed hand filled with tiny detonations, and wisps of smoke drifted from him as he spoke.

Gwen stopped complaining at him mid sentence and did a double take, acting as though she'd just remembered Bakugou was there.

Her eyes flared pink with energy and she settled in a fighting posture.

They glared at each other for what felt like forever, and Izuku was all but ready to write off his home until a pleasant voice sounded from the kitchen hallway.

"Izuku dear, is there someone here? Bakugou came to see you! His _mothers_ on the phone _now!_ "

Izuku couldnt tell why, but his mothers emphasis was a bit strange. Bakugou immediately stiffened and ceased using his quirk.

She then turned towards Gwen, advancing on her, phone in hand.

"Oh my! Are you my little Izuku's _girlfriend?_ How many children did you want? How do you feel about taking care of little old me when I'm old? OH! You simply _must_ let me give you advice on childbirth."

Gwen, paled noticeably, taking a hurried step away from his mother that nearly tripped her.

Both she and Bakugou shared bile filled glance with each other, before hurried assuring his mother they were leaving. As they put their shoes on, Izuku could just make out;

"Bitch."

"Ass"

"Tch." "Hmph!"

When he turned back to his mother she was smiling knowingly at him.

"Mom she's not my -"

"I know dear. I'm a housewife, not a moron."

"But how did you know I wanted them to leave? And how did you _make_ them leave?"

"Oh sweety. The most dangerous thing about a baby bear is its mother."

Izuku stared at her in confused silence.

She sighed, tilting her head to the side and thinking for a moment before saying;

"I guess you could say they came to the wrong hood?"

Sometimes, Izuku realised, his mother scared him.

After he'd cleaned up and settled into his room, Izuku began to fiddle with the Omnitrix. He immediately rotated the dial to Bullfrag and found the selection greyed out.

When he attempted to activate it, the Omnitrix simply made a clicking noise as the dial receded into its slot.

He supposed he'd have to make due with his 10 other forms. He snorted at that thought. He was, by all standards, already inordinately powerful for his age. The problem was he wasnt looking to be 'good for his age'. He wasn't even aiming at **best** for his age. No, his battle that day had shown him he was a small fish in a big pond. He had to aim for a higher stage. He was _expected_ to.

Laying down in his bed, he rotated the dial once more, this time to Grey Matter. A brief flash of light and his nightly routine wqs complete. He would spend the next little while until he timed out, planning for the future. Strategies, uses of his forms, matchups both good and bad.

He allowed all his worries to slip away and became, for just a short time, the smartest being on the planet.

He didn't know why but as Grey Matter that thought suddenly irked him.

The next day, the day he'd been mandated to rest on, he sent a message to Mineta.

He knew that Mineta and Asui were together fairly frequently though he had no idea why, and he had a theory he wanted to test.

At school, Mineta sidled up to where Asui sat. He'd been out of sorts that today. Ever since Izuku had pointed out the legal ramifications of his antics to Tsuyu, the girls in the class had been looking at him as though theyd defeated a great evil.

He wasn't stupid enough to push his luck on that front, so when he got a message from Izuku just before class had started he'd been surprised. Revenge was his it would seem. His boy came through in the end.

Asui looked up from her desk where she'd been chatting with Yaoyorozu and Ashido.

"What's up." she said in her characteristic deadpan voice.

"I've got a date for-"

"No."

The girls stared at him like he was a buzzing fly, and he affected a pained expression.

"He's been asking me out every day since school started. I have no idea why."

It was because he thought the frog thing would give her aelf esteem issues and make her easier to score with.

Not that he'd ever say that out loud.

He cleared his throat.

"Actually its Midoriya. Wants to go to the beach."

Asui blinked once at him but her expression remained unchanged. Mineta only knew from experience the turmoil she was in. A slight reddening of cheek and the rapid tapping of her foot gave it away to him. He moved in for the kill.

"Thing is my boys shy, wants it to be a double date. With me."

That was a lie for the ages. But he told it with a perfectly straight face.

"But as you know, I'm _single_ right now. Any of your _friends_ willing to help yo- me out?"

The slip had been intentional. He knew she was thinking about it because she hadn't smacked him with her tongue yet.

Mineta sauntered back to his desk smiling, leaving her to stew.

Yep. It was all coming up Mineta now.

 **Who do you guys think it should be? Im open to suggestions. And yeah I know I write Mineta like a little cretin.**


	9. The Beach Episode

**Updates may be a bit infrequent this week. I'll try and stay on it.**

Izuku had been at the beach most of the day. He'd always found comfort here after the the extended training he'd done with All Might. This was _his_ beach. He'd cleaned it, he'd sweat and bled on it, He'd even _fought_ on it - although looking back, not very _well_.

This beach was where his dreams came true. This beach was where he could always work his hardest, push his limits to their maximum. He fell into an almost trance like state of training and exercise when he was here.

He would sprint across the beach, dodging imaginary attacks and enemies from every possible direction. He would scale the wall up to the street over looking the beach - then he would leap back down and practice break falls. When no one was around to berate him for it, he would scramble across the breakwater along one side of the beach, practicing his maneuverability. Push Ups. Sit Ups. Crunches. Repeat.

Izuku's world, from noon when he arrived till 4pm when Asui, Mineta, and Yaoyorozu arrived, came down to just those actions. Which of course, is why he did not notice them arrive.

They came bedecked for beach side fun. Swimsuits under summer clothes, Yaoyorozu already beginning to form Parasols and Pool Toys with her quirk. Asui, ever pragmatic had opted to wear a wet suit instead of the standard swimsuit. Despite Mineta's personal opinion, she actually had nearly no self esteem issues - quite the opposite. She almost never thought about how she looked, and took only as much time to arrange herself as was necessary. She wondered briefly, if she would have to reconsider that, as the group crested the hill and looked down on the beach, where Izuku was.

He was on the beach doing some for of high intensity training - dead sprinting between two mounds of sand he'd clearly piled up, dropping at either side to do as many push ups as he could in ten seconds, then rising and dead sprinting back. And on, and on, and on. He was shirtless and sweat glistened off of him as though he'd just come from the shower. Months of borderline insane training were clearly present on his once rail thin frame.

Asui, and Yaoyorozu had glazed looks in their eyes, frozen mid conversation by the sight. Mineta was mostly just annoyed. Of course nerd boy would call them for some training crap or other. He narrowed his eyes and began stomping down towards Izuku on the beach.

"Maybe there was a mistake?" Yaoyorozu said reasonably.

Asui snorted and gestured to Mineta as he walked ahead with one crooked finger.

" _That_ is a mistake. _That_ \- " She gestured at Izuku "is art."

Yaoyorozu's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the blatant statement. Before she could think of anything better to say Asui had already started off after Mineta. She followed with a shrug. She wouldn't have phrased it so meanly, but she didn't really disagree either.

Mineta had positioned himself at one end of Izuku's sprint, and as he rose from his push ups, Mineta yelled at him, and began throwing his Sticky Balls at the excercising youth.

"You freaking dick! You called us to _help you train_?! Didn't you just get wrecked like, yesterday?!"

Izuku didn't miss a beat. He hardly heard what the smaller boy said. He began zig zagging, leaping and dodging around the Sticky Balls as Mineta threw them, as he approached and the barrage became heavier he shot a foot out , kicking up a wave of sand that coated tuhe projectiles, making them ineffectual. With a final burst of speed he rolled to a stop in front of Mineta, a fist raised as though to strike the other boy. His face bore the seriousness he always had when facing adversity. It was the face he'd had when he'd chosen to jump into the water and help Asui. It was. . . scary, Mineta realized.As fast as it had come, Izuku's face returned to his normal timid expression. He dropped his hands to his sides and smiled at Mineta.

"Hey Mineta. How come you're here?"

"Yes Mineta. Do explain." a smiling Yaoyorozu said as she and Asui approached.

Izuku wasn't sure why but Mineta looked chilled by the question.

"Hey Asui, Yaoyorozu."

Asui's tongue had already half reached him before he'd finished speaking, but stopped and retracted before striking him.

"I told you to call me Tsu." she said, to Minetas eyes obviously flustered.

"I thought it was Tsu **yu**." he said poking fun at her.

She glared at him. A gesture he was pretty sure only he'd recognize. Tsu had the same range of emotions and responses everyone else had. Her physiology just meant many of them were rather subdued looking even at their most apparent.

Not that mattered. He was here with Yaoyorozu. _Thay_ chick was a bombshell, and she never hit him either. He ignored Asui's eyes boaring into him and turned towards his date.

Only to find her bright red pointedly staring away from Midoriya as she handed him a towel and asked her about the details of her quirk.

Mineta was just kind of glad that Izuku was basically a moron outside of his obsession with Heros.

Several minutes later, having toweled off and put a shirt on, Izuku told him the reason he'd wanted to see Asui.

"So you can't turn into the frog one anymore?" Asui asked with some dissapointment. They'd been none too pleased by Minetas deception but had opted to make the most of it.

The four of them were sitting on a large beach towel listening to Izuku.

The night before he'd eventually gotten the Omnitrix to spit out a message on attempting to use Bullfrag.

 _*Bzzt* Admin1 has disallowed access to greater library._

He snorted. "Then why could I use him _before?_ "

 _*Bzzt* Admin2 granted temporary access._

That was new. It usually just ignored his feeble attempts at voice commands.

He tried to push his luck.

"W-who _are_ the admins?"

The omnitrix flash and the outline of Grey Matter Overlaying a strand of hair appeared.

The omnitrix had not responded to any more questions after that.

He didn't _quite_ explain it that way to them. He preferred they assume the Omnitrix a tool foe helping with his quirk instead of the quirk itself.

"So, I wanted to see if being around A-Tsuyu would help."

Each of them had stripped off their outer clothes and was lounging in their swimsuits as they listened. Mineta wore a black and white striped one piece tank top and shorts. Asui wore what Izuku wouldnhave politely described as an umcomfortably tight wetsuit. Yaoyorozu wore a standard one piece white swimsuit, that she had simply formed under her clothes when they arrived.

It made him extremely uncomfortable. A certain degree of fitness was required in their program that meant they were both _extremely_ attractive women. He was beginning to understand why someone like Mineta would try to get into this program.

He was snapped from his thoughts by Asui speaking.

"So. . .So the littlest pervert here tricked us?"

Izuku looked at her curiously. He still didn't know why so many of them had come to see him. He'd thought it was a simple request.

Mineta smirked at them and began "She only came cus I told her it was a d-"

He was stricken from the side by a Asui's tongue before he completed his sentence.

"d.. damn good opportunity to train!" he roared rubbing the back of his head.

Yaoyorozu was watching the spectacle unfold with one hand pinching the brow of her nose.

"I-it would be a wonderful opportunity to train with you." she said awkwardly covering for her friend.

"R-right! So I have a plan! Bro, when you went frog, you were pretty much on a suicide mission. You couldnt transform right?"

"Yeah. . ." Izuku took on a somewhat haunted look at that statement.

"So maybe its a fight thing? Like you can only do it when your in danger?"

"Maybe?"

That didn't feel quite right to Izuku. Close, but not but not quite right.

"So, lets play a game. We chase you around the beach. First one that gets you gets to order any one other person around for a day."

"That actually seems quite productive Mineta, I'd no idea-" Yaoyorozu's enthused voice fell awaybas she saw the looks on Asui and Minetas faces.

"And remember bro. You can't transform unless its to frog dude." Mineta declared.

"We all agree to the rules, _and rewards_ **right?** " he continued his head turning towards Yaoyorozu with a hungry look, nostrils flaring.

For her part, Asui stared at Izuku like he was a fly trapped in amber.

Usually she would have declined immediately but Asui seemed inclined to participate and so, Yaoyorozu acquiessed.

The minute they all agreed, smiles on their faces, They all lept at Izuku, who rolled out of the way and reached down, throwing the towel and a goodly portion of sand up and in their way to obscure their vision.

He immediately sprinted for the breakwater, Twisted and rolling to avoid Minetas barrage of sticky balls and Asui's grasping tongue.

Yaoyorozu created a tremendous fan and with one sweep blew away the dust and debris everyone else was kicking up.

She also, she admitted privately, was trying to impede Mineta.

As he reached the breakwater, Izuku began jumping across them, following them along the narrow path to the gazebo at on end of the beach.

Whenever Asui would attempt to jump at him or lash out with her tongue, he would leap away, revealing a whole or crevace that she wouls have to rush to avoid being stuck in. Mineta, who was much smaller and slower than the others didn't catch up until Asui had cornered Izuku in the Gazebo, the two of them leaping too and fro like ninja in the enclosed space.

Creeping around behind them, Mineta waited for his chance and threw one of his sticky balls beneath Izuku as he jumped.

Asui too, had leapt and was on a crash course for him. Time slowed around Izuku, and he knew that this was it. This was the feeling he needed. The rush. He could feel just the barest hint of One for All flash through him, and without thought he slammed his hand down on the Omnitrix.

Bullfrag leapt from the emerald blaze that ensued, his tongue swinging him out of the way of both attacka and out into the water, where he'd have an advantage over -

His midsection was struck by an iron bar that, while not really hurting, double him over and left him sprawled in the ocean. Yaoyorozu threw a net over him before he could reorient and positively beamed down at him.

"Well shit baby, you got me good huh?"

She was slightly taken back by the change in address, but everyone was at least somewhat familiar with Izukus quirk by now - and so she paid it no mind.

Asui and Mineta stared on in annoyance.

When they finally returned home, they felt refreshed and ready, to prepare for the sports festival.


	10. Overclocked

**I love XLR8, I really do, but I can't help but want to write slightly more than 'He runs 500mph and wins. the rest of the chapter is him chilling at the finish line.'**

A few weeks later Izuku was in the waiting room of a tremendous arena, along with the rest of class 1-A. He often wondered where UA found all the money for such extravagance. Then he'd remember how easy it would be for Grey Matter to manipulate stock markets, and let the thought be.

He was sitting, hunched over a table, hands tightly clenched in front of himself as though praying. The rest of the class milled about the room in varying stages of stress, trying to relax, and bring down tensions. Mineta sat across the table from him, picking his nose while ogling the girls, something he seemed to never grow tired of despite the repeated physical abuses it brought him.

"Bro. Calm down. Were first years. Arena's probably gonna be half empty for us." he quipped, unknowingly easing the tension in the room considerably.

"That is incorrect." stated Todoroki, as he entered the room. Izuku had no idea where he'd been prior to this. There weren't alot of places to loiter in the stadium besides the waiting rooms, and as far as Izuku knew Todoroki didn't really have friends in other classes.

Or this one, if he was being honest with himself.

"No offence man, but, were first years. Scrubs. Noobs. Nobodies. Why would _anyone_ care about us?" said Mineta, flicking something to small to see from his finger to the floor.

Todoroki stood placidly next to the table they were seated at now, a piercing stare leveled at Izuku as he answered;

"Because of the USJ. Despite being first years, we are the only students in this school who've seen live combat. Action, as it were. The third years are more refined but we have experience." his eyes cut across the room to Bakugou, who had been lounging in a corner glaring at the other occupants of the room as though unaffected by the tension.

"Wait. Shit. Seriously? How d- did you know this!?" Mineta panicked his head whipping towards Izuku as though he'd become possessed.

"I-I thought maybe-"

"Bro. I've been sitting here like an ass telling you everythings chill and you _knew I was wrong?_ " Mineta's head slammed into the table infront of them.

"crapshitfu-"

The diminutive lecher began to release a stream of expletives, and Todoroki turned towards Izuku.

"One of your forms. The one you used in the entrance exam."

"F-four Arms?"

"Don't use it."

"Wuh?"

"I have certain. . .expectations placed on me. Anyone who could perceived as a stand in for All Might would require my personal attention."

Izuku was taken aback, as Todoroki's presence changed from aloof to vicious, his eyes burning a whole through Izuku that he could almost feel.

"And I would not want to snuff your prospects out so early."

Todoroki turned to leave with an air of finality to him, and had almost reached the door when Bakugou shot out of his seat and yelled at him;

"What you think your so good I'm not even worth thinking about!? Two Tone!?"

"No Bakugou. I am simply an accurate judge of strength. You have an amazing quirk, and a fantastically honed battle sense. I certainly respect you both as a warrior, and a student."

"Then why the hell are you-"

"I have no doubt that you will make **_second place_** with ease." Todoroki interrupted, easily stepping past Bakugou and out of the room before any reply could be made.

It took the rest of the classes combined efforts to ensure there wasn't a bombing in the stadium that day. Though it did distract them from there nerves long enough to hear the call for assembly in the field.

They all easily marched out single file, to stand amongst the other students participating in the festival. Despite there only being two hero course classes at UA this first year, the number of students filling the stadium far outstripped that. Students from the General Studies and Support classes littered the field, many of them less serious about the coming events than those Hero class students who felt their very futures depended on their outcomes.

Izuku stood, clutching the Omnitrix in one hand as he waited for Midnight, who stood on a stage facing the students, and the crowd, to announce the first event. He realized that fondling the Omnitrix whenever he was nervous was akin to an officer fingering their gun in its holster, and that he should break himself of the habit, but nervous energy filled him, and he forgave himself the slip this once.

His mind slipped back to his conversation with All Might earlier that week. He'd quietly pulled Izuku aside during lunch, looked in the face and told him, mandated him really;

"You must present yourself at that festival, with the world watching, and say, _**I AM HERE!**_ " All Might had expanded into his heroic persona for those last three words, their familiar cadence washing over Izuku, setting his heart the beating with awe, as they always had, and always would.

The moment passed, and All Might, ever pushing his limits, immediately reverted to his smaller form, blood gurgling up from his lips, which he gingerly wiped away.

"As my successor, your very presence must inspire hope, You must be a force unto yourself, a deterrent to evil simply via knowledge of your existence. This is merely the first step on the path you must tread."

All Might's words had echoed through Izuku's mind for this entire week, and he had spent a disturbing amount of time as Grey Matter, even to the extent of being scolded by his Teachers for the constant blazes of green light in the classroom. He had planned, and timed, and counted, and thought, and trained until he was numb in all but spirit.

He was snapped to attention as he heard the name of their player rep called.

"Katsuki Bakugou! Come say a few words for the crowd."

Bakugou calmly sauntered onto the stage next to midnight, his gaze placid. His mouth opened to speak and his gaze stilled on the apathetic face of Todoroki.

His eyes narrowed and he spoke, with conviction not rage; "I'm gonna place _first_ "

The crowd booed. The other students turned baleful glares on class 1-A. And Izuku cringed. He had no idea why anyone would ever think putting _Bakugou_ in a public speaking position was wise. If you looked up abrasive in the dictionary, there would be an image of his face.

Midnight moved into the next segment without missing a beat, silencing the crowd with a sharp crack of her. . . Izuku didn't know what it was actually. A really short whip he'd guess.

"And! So!" Midnight cried excitedly, cracking her. . . whip? in the air.

"The preliminary round that will decide your destiny is..!"

A hovering screen began to cycle through events at a rapid pace, and Izuku began rapidly trying to figure what he could do in each of them. Eventually, the screen stopped on the innocuous words 'Obstacle Race', and Midnight turned to the gathered crowd and posed gesturing at it.

"This!"

Mineta stood to one side of Izuku visibly salivating over the mature woman, snapping out of it only when he realized they were due to start. He turned towards Izuku, and hurriedly whispered; "Hey, why don't we work together? It'll be good for-"

He stopped when he saw the look on Izuku's face. It was the one he got sometimes when the chips were down and he felt it was all or nothing. It exuded a pressure that Mineta felt was oddly reminiscent of All Might, and it gave him the creeps. Whenever Izuku got that look on his face, he was about to do something extreme. Or stupid. Or both.

So he quietly retracted his statement, and stepped a bit away from his maniac friend, who, in his own way, was every bit as extreme as Bakugou.

The participants began to line up on one side of the arena, in front of a tremendous archway as the rules were explained to them. It was relatively simple. There were no rules. Don't kill anyone, seemed to be the only really compulsion.

Izuku, stared at the Omnitrix. He would have to wait until the first obstacle to use it. Too many of his forms had vulnerabilities to specific situations to choose one before he knew what kind of obstacle he would encounter.

As the race started, and the gates opened, Izuku was immediately pressed upon by the bodies of the other students as they attempted to force their ways through the archway. Many of his classmates immediately adjusted, using their quirks to climb the walls, fling themselves over the mob, or simply force people out of their way. By the time Izuku had made it to the main track, it had already been thoroughly abused by those more powerful members of his class.

The path as far as he could see was littered with slippery frost, gouges were blasted out of the earth, and other varying marks of destruction littered the run way.

Izuku immediately began powering forward, sliding across the ice, leaping into and on to obstacles to give him self purchase before spring boarding off them to continue on. People around him who were unaware of the quirks of his classmates quickly began to fall pray to Sticky Balls Mineta had left littering the path, and these Izuku too, used as launch boards - apologizing each time he did so ofcourse.

Up ahead the path widened into a semi circle, and the frost ended, but the mob of students ahead of him had all but stopped dead in their tracks. Izuku came to a stop himself, as he looked up at the numbers robots blocking the way forward. Todoroki had already begun to charge towards one, surprising many of the General studies students present.

Izuku was not so foolish. This, he realized was his moment. Sometimes, it paid for the administration to be completely unaware of ones whole power set. He race after Todoroki, easily stepping into his wake as a frigid wave of ice laid waste to all in his path. He gazed over his shoulder with cold eyes at Izuku, assuming the smaller boy was using him as a buffer to make his way through the obstacle.

He opened his mouth to warn Izuku away from the tremendous Zero robot about to fall on him, but was surprised to see a fearless smile on the often stuttering boys face.

He flashed a brilliant green, and then Todoroki could no longer look at him, instead focusing on his path ahead. He continued to brazenly freeze the path around him as he traveled, smirking at the countless students groans behind him, and furrowing his brow in annoyance when Bakugou blasted clear over the deterring field of ice to chase after him.

Izuku watched as the tremendous Zero point robot fell towards him, his flesh becoming cold and fluid, his bodily functions becoming the result of 1's and 0's. He could detect every cell phone and camera, every power line around them.

 _*"Upgrade!"*_ his now hollow, mechanical voice bellow, as he flowed up the leg of the tremendous machine. It was too large, to start with. He the outer armor, jettisoning it to the side onto the smaller robots nearby. He pulled the vulnerable cables and wires of his new body into his core, and two inch thing climbing spikes protruded from the tankline treads that moved the robot around. He shortened the torso, pulling it down in the tank like lower portion of its body, and reinforced the huge, grabbing arms.

In only a few moments he was the proud owner of an immense, full _armed_ battle tank. With a thumbs up to the watching camera, his other mechanical appendage slammed into the ground, turning him towards the finished like, the treads rumbled to life, and a spray of dirt and frost blasted out behind him and his cruised up the lane towards the front runners.

In the crowd a stunned Mei Hatsume gaped at the rapid remodel and subsequent take off of the metal behemoth.

"Bug guy..?" She mumbled

Her jet boots easily carried her over the Debris, and she cranked them up to maximum speed so that she could follow behind and monitor her one time savior.

At the next obstacle Izuku found himself stumped. He gazed out at the immense canyon that had stopped his progress, allowing Bakugou and Todoroki to pull ahead once more. A quick diagnostic found that he wouldn't be able to make his current chassis fly. He could attempt to leap from pillar to rope connected pillar, but that risked crushing them with his prodigous weight - endangering the other students who even now were catching up and beginning to crawl across the ropes like caterpillars.

One student pulled up besides him, completely ignoring the race course as she flitted about his current body.

"ooooOOOH! How're you _doing that_? I thought you turned into a bug guy! How far can you take it? Is it resources intensive? Is it _expensive?_ " She banged and prodded at him in a way he could detect as intrusive if not strictly 'feel' as a result of his inorganic nature.

Her presence had given him a way out though, thankfully, and with practiced ease he flowed off the Zero robot, leaving behind a defunct piece of junk and onto the varying gadgets and bobbles Mei kept about her person. Quickly grabbing parts from the defunct tank, he transformed her flight suit into a rocket pack of titanic strength, such that no human would ever be able to react fast enough to control it. He flowed over her in one swift move, pulling her googles down and taking them over so that he was effectively a second set of skin over her body, and began to power on the new engines he'd built.

He could tell she was saying something muffled under all his extra mass, but was too focused to decipher it. He was sure she had enough air to breath and so ignored it for the moment. She'd thank him for her placement later anyway.

He briefly wondered if he was missing some social que that a normal person would have, before disregarding the concept. He was efficiency incarnate. With a final test check the now green and black covered form of Mei Hatsume exploded over the canyon, Izuku making sure to keep her still as they moved so she wouldnt suffer whiplash or broken bones.

He saw Bakugou and Todoroki beneath him, wrestling their way across a field of mines whos signals he could detect even from here. He took a millisecond to send a signal to all the ones surrounding the duo, detonating them all at once and sending them skyward.

In only a few moments he'd arrived infront of the finish line, and with some delicacy, landed Hatsume and slid off her, returning her equipment to normal as he oozed over the finish line, and reformed.

A bright red Hatsume stared at him from just beyond the finish line, her face wavering between excitement and embarassment.

The mechanically minded Izuku still in the form of Upgrade couldn't understand why that might be. The fact that he had, for all intents and purposes, just been _very_ close to this strange girl went largely over his head.

So confused were they as they stared at each other, that Hatsume remained motionless on one side of the finish, as Bakugou, Todoroki, and a handful of others passed her.

When she did eventually snap out of her fugue long enough to pass, she eventually came, in 7th place.


	11. Fake Out

**Been sort of slacking on writing recently. Illness and work and all that. I'm good now. Also I don't know when it happened but I really _like_ writing Mineta? He was just supposed to be a throwaway character . **

Izuku stood impassively in the arena as he awaited the finish of the obstacle course.

While he and his classmates had finished the course in ludicrous time, the vast majority of the students in the race were from general studies, and would have nearly no means of getting around the obstacles meant for hero class students with any real speed. He assumed they were included for the sake of parity, and less so for the sake of actually showcasing any given one of them.

As he pondered this, a large screen in the arena was hurriedly going over highlights from his classes exploits. Of particular note, were himself, Bakugou, & Todoroki. They had shown him subsuming Hatsume's flight suit twice now, and he was beginning to inch towards the display to 'examine' it, when he noted a significant increase in the hostility directed at him, both from the stands and on the fields.

He stopped and turned his head towards his classmates, most of who'm had finished now, and noted Mineta giving him a thumbs up, and making lewd groping motions in the air with his other hand, in addition to many of his female classmates looking at him like he was, well, Mineta.

He'd raised a hand to gather attention so he could defend his actions, when the Omnitrix chose to time out. Suddenly in possession of a normal brain chemistry, Izuku found himself extremely discomforted by his actions. his hand dropped and he turned bright red, sputtering nonsense as he tried to find Hatsume to apologize.

By this point, Mineta had approached him, and Asui had sidled up next to him, glancing at him suspiciously.

"Do you feel the stares? You and me now man." Mineta said, knowingly, and with a certain degree of malicious glee.

He'd hardly finished speaking before Asui's tongue had flicked out and slammed the back of his head.

"Don't worry about it Iz- Midoriya." Asui seemed to have to stop herself from using his familiar first name, causing Mineta's head to zip around to her incredulously.

"We all know your forms make you act funny. Kaminari has the same problem with _his_ quirk. We won't hold it against you." Asui's straight faced condolence calmed Izuku down somewhat, and when he turned to check, he found that for the most part, his classes attention had drifted off him as he transformed back.

"Um. Excuse me. Yeah. Wheres _my_ forgiveness?" Mineta whined, largely unheard by the crowd. He gaped at Midoriya and Asui as she punctuated her point with an awkward hug.

From over Asui's shoulder Izuku looked into Mineta's eyes and tried to convey how glad he was to have a friend like him at UA, even if he was a bit weird.

Mineta, did not interpret it that way. He saw that look in Izuku's eyes again, the terrifying focus he sometimes showed, and flashed back to every moment he'd ever spent with the taller boy. He realized that while he had been trying to impart some of his wisdom on the green haired boy, that he had been the one being taught. Midoriya was playing on higher field than him. He was getting everything Mineta wanted, and he was getting away with it. Mineta knew in that moment that he'd found a true friend, and decided then, to endeavor to be more like him.

He gave a furious thumbs up to the larger boy, and quickly fell into step beside him when he broke his hug with the frog girl.

" _Teach me._ " Mineta beseeched.

Izuku quirked his head in confusion at the smaller boys sudden serious demeanor and tone. Mineta didn't need _him_ to teach him. They were both proud students of UA, the acknowledged best there was, all of them with bright futures ahead.

"You don't need to -"

 **"And that's the last participant in the obstacle course! Everyone give a hand for our fantastic students!"**

Izuku was cut off by Midnights cries to the crowded stadium, and Mineta's face began to tear up. Truly friendship was the greatest boon a man could have! He could see a bright future of bouncy full figured women ahead of him. He briefly considered holding his tears back, but it occurred to him that Midoriya cried profusely, and often - so it couldn't possibly hurt.

 **"Now then my darlings, in this next event, your score from the previous event will become your point total, and I hope you like to be _ridden hard_ , because the next event is a _Cavalry Battle!"_** Midnights too suggestive tone, and odd emphasis set the crowd to explosive cheering, though many of the students suddenly felt very uncomfortable in the knowledge that this was a member of their faculty.

Except Mineta. Who, though he was now chomping at the bit inside, took one glance at Izuku's face and immediately set himself to attempting to emulate that insane intensity the bigger boy put out. His classmates looked at him suspiciously as he made what could only really be described as a constipated face.

Izuku, for his part, stared at the new scoreboard that had been placed on the viewing screen. Each rank seemed to increase the point total of the participant by about 50 points. Bakugou and Todoroki were worth 450 and 500 points respectively which meant he should be worth. . . a million points!?

 **"Now, my little aspiring heroes, theres an added twist, first place from the last event it worth one _million_ points. It's lonely at the top isn't it kiddo?" ** Midnight winked conspiratorially down at Izuku from the podium.

 **"You have 10 minutes to form teams, don't take _no_ for an answer now!" **

Izuku immediately began scrambling for a plan. He had ten minutes. Most of the participants had immediately singled him out as a target, so he'd almost certainly have to deal with both Bakugou & Todoroki. Mineta. . . appeared to be staying by his side for the moment, making a somewhat odd face that Izuku could only take as nervousness.

"Come on!" he grabbed Mineta and began jogging through the crowd towards his intended partner.

A few moments later Yaoyorozu was blinking at the pair in surprise.

"Me? And. . . him? That's it? I don't believe its wise to rely on -" she was prevented from having to find a polite way to call Mineta small and useless by Izuku's rapid interruption.

"Yao- no, Momo, trust me."

Yaoyorozu paused at that, blushing slightly at the Izuku's rapt stare. He was so earnest in his pursuits. He was strong, but preferred to act cleverly to winning with brute force. Most of all, that stare of his. It made you feel like everything was going to be ok. It was reminiscent of . . . All Might?

She furrowed her brow in confusion at that comparison, but Izuku kept talking.

"I have a plan. Can you make a notebook and a pencil?"

She looked at him quizzically, noting Mineta's head whip around as she daintily rolled up her sleeve to produce the requested articles. She really couldn't understand how these two ever managed to be around each other. Then again, Asui managed to be friends with the little purple haired gremlin, so he must have _some_ redeeming qualities.

Izuku snatched the pencil and paper from her hands and began concentrating as he furiously outlined what looked like a molecular structure of some kind on the page. This surprised her. It implied he'd been thinking about her, or, her quirk at least, for some time. Long enough to think of and memorize the molecular structure of. . . something. She was fairly adept at reasoning out what any given combination of electrons would produce, oweing to her quirk, but whatever Izuku was drawing looked distinctly _alien_. 

He ripped the page of and handed it to her with a fearless smile. "Were going to win." Izuku said, more to himself than to anyone else. Once Yaoyorozu agreed to join them, he outlined the rest of his plan, and a few minutes later they were handed a headband with their combined point total on it by an official.

Contrary to everyone elses expectations as they began to arrange themselves, hopping on shoulders and hands, Izuku immediately passed the head band to Yaoyorozu.

Izuku deftly manipulated the omnitrix, rotating the dial and slamming his hand down on it. In a flash of light he became what was easily his _least_ favourite form. His eyes receded and then disappeared from his face, his body grew to stupendous proportions, and steel wool like orange hairs burst out across his body.

 _Wild Mutt!  
_ " **Arograa!"**

Right. Couldn't talk. He seriously hated this form. The audience looked on as Yaoyorozu rapidly formed and hitched riding harness to him, that Mineta and then she lept onto, her feet easily slipping into the tailor made stirrups atop the vulpimancer.

Mineta, who was blissfully aware of how close to the back of his head Yaoyorozu's bust was turned towards their competition and smiled at them. It was an attempt to emulate Izuku's reassuring and heroic smile. To most looking it simply looked sadistic. This was punctuated by his single statement as the match began.

" _Your all fucked._ "

The horn sounded and Izuku immediately took off, evading a hail of blasts from around him, likely prompted by Minetas provocation. He had perfect awareness of his surroundings, and pointedly avoided the other groups, instead immediately approaching ramming speed with Bakugou. He hated to do it, but he knew, better than anyone else, how Bakugou thought.

As they approached, Yaoyorozu began to form what she needed using the material Izuku had provided her. Her uniform was open in the front, revealing her black sports bra, and from her torso she pulled a large shield made of bright turquoise crystal, and a mace of the same material.

They leapt across the fields of foes, Yaoyorozu deflecting blows with ease and grace, marveling at the surprising sturdiness of the material. They eventually reached Bakugou, who was mounted atop Kirishima, Ashido, and Sero - the boy who could fire a sort of tape from his arms.

Izuku had no mercy, or hesitancy, unlike the first time he'd transformed into Wild Mutt. The slight change in posture of the three trying to coordinate made it laughably easy to detect where they were going, and he swerved on one massive front paw to tackle the three mounts beneath Bakugou, who had leapt at Yaoyorozu only to be beaten back by her impenetrable shield, and counterattacked with one fell swing of her mace.

Before Bakugou could hit the ground and be disqualified he was reeled back by and stumbling Sero, and Izuku made a grunting noise. During all this, Mineta had firmly cemented Bakugous mounts to the ground using his balls, a fact they only noticed when Izuku turned and leapt at another group, who were not so lucky as to evade Team Yaoyorozu's first pass.

When Team Bakugou failed to be able to give chase, Present Mic chimed in, yelling with excitement;

 _ **"Oh YEAH! It looks like Team Yaoyorozu has realized they only need to survive these 10 minutes, and has begun rapidly neutralizing other teams! They aren't even TRYING to capture head bands!"**_

In the stands an old man sat frozen with a hot dog half way to his mouth, Gwen sitting next to him and eyeing his questionable choice of chocolate sauce and onions for toppings.

"Hey. . . Grandpa, that girl, isn't that-"

"Taydenite. Gwen go alert the base. That girls going to need a security detail, now that she's just demonstrated the ability to make Taydenite from nothing on national television."

Back in the arena, Todoroki was chasing maddeningly after the orange abomination Midoriya had become, while fighting with the few remaining teams over the headbands of the immobile foes Yaoyorozu and co and effectively eliminated.

Beneath him, Iida spoke, "I'm going to try something, but I'll probably be useless afterwards."

Todoroki checked their score briefly before deciding it was worth it. "Do it."

With that, Iida's legs began making the pitched keening of a jet engine.

"Recipro-" He set his stance.

"BURST!" and suddenly Team Todoroki was rocketing forward towards the Buxom valkyrie atop her beast.

Izuku had no means of countering such speed, and though he saw the attack coming, he was unable to shift out of the way fast enough to prevent Todoroki from snatching the head band from around Yaoyorozu's neck.

As they passed each other the horn sounded, and the event ended.

Izuku immediately began aggrievedly stomping the ground with his four powerful legs, snorting irritably for lack of the ability to speak or cry.

Yaoyorozu patted him kindly on the side and winked at Mineta, untying the white ribbon she had tied about her ponytail unnoticed.

Todoroki came away from the battle proud, until he realized he was holding a blank white, headband that immediately frozen solid when he realized it for what it was.

A Decoy.

 ** _"AAAAAAAAND TEAM YAOYOROZU WINS!"_**


	12. The Eleventh Hour

Orbiting the earth somewhere, just outside the range of conventional means of detection, there drifted an immense space ship. Hundreds of thousands of drones and other machines whirred and stopped through the halls of the ship, known to the galaxy at large as the Chimerian Hammer. The ship, fortunately for many on earth, was scuttled. A vast crater was clearly visible in the side of the hull, and hundreds of drones worked at it, at the behest of their master.

Vilgax, the conqueror was not well known for his temperance, and he sat in a throne like command chair staring fixedly at a transmission from the word his ship floated around. His eyes ignored most of the forms in the video broadcast the humans so foolish sent unguarded across their world, tracking only a single being across the scenes displayed.

Vilgax stared on in aggravation as Izuku used the barest hint of the Omnitrix's potential to win the obstacle course. He was maddened by the unruly childs willful use of the omnitrix to become some other humans _mount_ of all things, when he could just as easily have overpowered the entire competition with it alone.

He took note of the idea of Vulpimancer slave mounts for his forces.

When that event was over and the broadcast entered an intermission, his eyes narrowed and he growled a question to his majordomo, one of only three now living beings on the ship.

"Psyphon. . . _why_ is my Omnitrix being used - _uninhibited by our efforts_ by a _**child**_ , to win. . ." he was temporarily lost for words to describe such foolishness as he'd seen.

"These. . .these **games?** "

Psyphon, a grey and black skinned man, with a single large horn on his forehead winced at the statement, but made his report anyway.

"Th-the drones have been somewhat busy repairing the ship, and we were hesitant to reveal our location to bounty hunters with the ship unable to leave should they choose the plumber reward for us over our own generous offer." He gestured at a tank full of healing fluids at the rear of the command room.

"Our mindless but sturdy friend here did quite a number on us as he exited the atmosphere. Its a wonder he survived in the void long enough to be recovered."

Vilgax hand scratched furrows in the steel arm of his command chair as he considered the form of the creature that had so delayed them.

"How long until it is outfitted and can be of use?"

"O-only a few weeks now sir I'm sure. It's unlikely the boy will be able to contend with it as he is now."

Vilgax only grunted, returning to his viewing of the broadcast as it returned to action.

The silent, ever grinning face of Noumu stared vacantly from the tank behind him, as grafts of strange red metal were painfully laced with his skin.

* * *

Izuku didn't have to wait long before he timed out of his Wild Mutt form, but his inability to immediately change back led to some awkward fumbling as he ambled around the stadiums winding hallways - unable to fit through the waiting room doors.

He'd chosen Wild Mutt for more than just the forms reflexes, strength and easy rideability. Wild Mutts senses also provided Izuku with a moment to moment snapshot of what everyone was doing in the arena at any given time. He'd tried his best to take note of what all the top competitors were doing. This meant of course that he had a very firm grasp on the quirks of many of they'd eventually placed on the ladder for the third round of the sports festival - the Tournament Round.

This was the round people were truly interested in. It was the round that best displayed each students fighting ability, and the one on one nature of each fight made it easier for students to appeal to the crowd.

This was Izuku's home stretch. He had a target on him now. Those placed beneath him were many and powerful.

When he had finally returned to normal, and silently walked to his waiting room to await the call for him to go on stage, he'd found Todoroki there waiting for him, a baleful stare spearing through him before he'd even managed to say a word.

"I underestimated you Midoriya. I admit, your **versatile** , if nothing else." he spoke the words as though they were an insult.

"But I still don't think you have what it takes to be a hero. I've seen you at work. You forms have a time limit. The matches do not. Real life - does not."

Todoroki walked past Izuku as he spoke pausing as he reached the door. "Theres no way someone as carefree as you, will ever defeat me in this tournament. Not with so much on the line."

Izuku wanted to speak out at that. He was indignant. He'd heard talk of who Todoroki's father was, and knew he was driven to succeed. But Izuku Midoriya now also had a legacy to uphold. A mission to complete. The weight of the world was on his shoulders and with every step he walked towards his goal he could only feel it grow heavier. Every time he saw the diminished All Might, he knew he had to move just that bit faster.

But he couldn't say anything. Not to anyone. Because no one could ever know that All Might, the symbol of peace, was weakening.

Taking Izuku's pained silence as confirmation of his opinions, Todoroki left Izuku to stew.

Ten minutes later saw the first round of the tournament beginning, and Izuku walking out to a screaming stadium of those who'd already seen what he could do. No. Those who'd already seen _some_ of what he could do.

His hand gripped the Omnitrix as he walked into the center of the ring and Present Mic began speaking.

 _ **"IIIINNNN THIS CORNER! HE'S SLIMEY, CREEPY, FAST AND STRONG! TEN FORMS AND TEN TIMES THE FUN, ITS IZUKU MIDORIYAAAAAA!"**_

Izuku blinked at that. It was simultaneously flattering, and annoying that Present Mic was announcing the details of his 'quirk' to the whole stadium. He refocused as his opponent came on stage.

 ** _"AAAAAND IN THE THER CORNER, HE'LL STEAL YOU QUIRK AND YOUR HEART, THE ALWAYS COOL NEITO MONOMAAAAAA!"_**

A cool faced youth with mid length blond hair and piercing grey eyes sauntered up to Izuku.

He placed his left hand out in a hand shaking gesture towards Izuku, who in typical form began to nervously shake it back. Izuku's problem, until this moment had been that even as Wild Mutt, he'd been unable to detect this person using a quirk of any kind. Now he knew why. He was simply mistaking copied quirks as being used by their original owners.

He calmed down noticeably when it occurred to him that - since he had no quirk, this fellow was likely about to be quietly eliminated from the tournament.

The blond boy smiled at him not unkindly as they shook and spoke dragging Izuku from his reverie.

"Ten forms huh? I'll do you **_oNe bEtTeR"_**

His voice took on a Monstrous quality, just as Present Mic announced the beginning of the match, and Izuku immediately leapt away in terror, as Monoma's body began to twist and morph. Insectoid wings back, and he grew to tremendous proportions, two extra sets of arms exploding from his sides. His original two arms were now Crystalline, and Molten Rock, respectively, with the bottom two taking on the cast and colour of Wild Mutts powerful arms. His back became encased in the technorganic mesh of Upgrade and his face and eyes became a painful hodgepodge of traits from across all Izuku's forms. The entire time the visible areas of his body began to turn a deep red.

 _ **"You class a punks think your so great. Well, I'm here to tell you class b isn't going to let you have the spotlight anymore!"  
**_

Izuku was forced to dodge to the side, unable to decide on what form to take as the horrifying combination of forms sent a roaring fireball crashing into the space he'd just been in.

Before he could decide, or even finish dodging, the Monoma was there with the speed of XLR8, batting him back in the opposite direction with one rock hard appendage.

 _ **"I have to admit, This quirk of yours is powerful. Maybe after this I'll tie you up and keep you."**_ Monoma gloated, blurring forward to punch Izuku in the stomach, lifting him five feet off the ground and sending him bouncing across the arena.

* * *

The crowd was screaming at this point, many heros commenting on the usefulness of a quirk copier. In the stands of Class A though, Izuku's classmates talked worriedly, even has he continued to be battered around the arena like a ragdoll each time he reached for the Omnitrix.

"Man, why doesn't he just turn into the big punchy guy and slug it out?" Kirishima asked in frustration, swinging his arms in the air at an invisible foe.

"He. . .he can't. Look, any time he tries to activate his quirk he - " spoke Kyouka Jiro, the long eared girl who always had a biting statement at hand. She was interrupted by the meaty smacking sound of Izuku hitting the concrete again, and was left wondering why the judges even allowed this fight to continue.

Mineta stared at the spectacle in consternation, noting Asui's grip on her seat tighten, and Yaoyorozu hugging herself tightly, biting her lower lip in worry. He decided to speak up, surprising the two women.

"He'll be fine."

All of class A turned to stare at Mineta incredulously.

Asui turned an angry, hurt stare to Mineta, and said "This is hardly what I'd describe as fine."

Mineta just point down into the stadium. "It's his face. Same one he gets when things are going down. Remember the USJ?"

"Izuku got put in the hospital at the USJ!" Asui said, raising her still deadpan voice, and using Izuku's first name in what only probably only Mineta recognized as panic.

He snorted. "I'll bet anyone here a date that my boy stomps this guy."

"I'll take some of the action!" A new voice spoke from the entryway to their seating area. The pink haired form of Mei Hatsume stood their, hands on hips, and a fearless smile on her face.

* * *

Back in the arena, Izuku had more or less figured out this bizarre eleventh form of Monoma's. It had all the powers of his ten forms, but it only had roughly one tenth of them. He was fast, and strong, but he wasn't the fastest OR strongest. That privilege belonged exclusively to him.

He reached for the omnitrix once more, anticipating the torturous pain of the attack that inevitably landed on him, a blast of flame he was surely meant to dodge, or evade.

He didn't.

Pain erupted over his body as his clothing began to ignite and his flesh to sear. But it didn't prevent him from slamming his palm down on the Omnitrix.

In a flash of green light, the pain dissipated, and the crowd turned silent in shock, as the fire appeared to entirely cover and immolate the young boy. Suddenly, before even Monoma could react to the possibility that he may have killed someone, a continuous blast of flame erupted from the spot Izuku had been in, melting the concrete beneath it and plowing into him.

Pain lanced across his mutated form and he raised his molten rock covered arm to retaliate, pushing back the flames with his own.

"Don't think that because you have my powers, you know how to use them."

A renewed voice spoke from the other side of the arena.

Class A looked on in relief as Heatblast took the stage, lobbing blasts of burning plasma across the arena like a man possessed.

Realizing he couldn't match Heatblast for pure power, Monoma took wing, flitting about the stadium and darting in to strike at the Izuku, much as before far to fast to react to.

Izuku stumbled, and struggled to send a wave of fire in the direction he'd been attacked from, only to be struck from another side. Now much more durable, he yelled at his opponent, "You know Monoma, they saying goes -"

He felt the energy of One For All flow through him, as his will to fight, to win, to dominate, exploded. He knew that as long as he had the Omnitrix nothing would stand in his way.

"- Jack of all trades - "

He slammed a fist in salute to the crowd directly onto the Omnitrix symbol on his chest, and felt the force of One For All coursing into the omnitrix and then back into him.

Flames ceased to be a reasonable means of describing the ever growing Pyronite, the majestic strength that a living force of nature could truly bring to bear. He grew to the size of a bear, his arms and legs thick with burning plates of stone. Heat emanated from him in waves, unwanted, but not unwelcome, causing the entire stadium to begin to swelter. The mere presence of his volcanic new form caused much of the surrounding flammable scenery to burn.

"- Master of none."

The Ultimate Pyronite stomped stoney foot into the stadium, and the ground began to rumble terribly. He reigned his heat in to prevent the audience from being harm, but within the boundaries of the arena, he was without mercy, the concrete he wasn't standing on melting and then even _evaporating_ away. Monoma's clothes instantly caught fire, and with a lazy, almost regal motion, Izuku waved a hand towards the distracted abomination.

Pillars of burning stone began to fling themselves from the earth at enfeebled Monoma, hitting him with all the force of a shifting tectonic plate. They quickly filled the arena, hammering the pretender about the area like a pinball.

Izuku felt it beneath his dignity to toy with such a creature, and so quickly had jettisoned in his waiting hands. One enourmous burning palm wrapping around Monoma's head as he shot passed, and then ramming him into the tenuous base of cement beneath him.

"Yield." was all he said.

And with a single nod from Monoma, the match was over.


	13. Uraraka! Boldly Go!

**Im back! I couldnt be bothered to run up the exact position numbers from the teo previous matches, so if the fighters and their order in the 1v1 tournament are a little out of whack - my apologies.**

Izuku had remained in the decimated arena for a minute or two longer before timing out. As the Ultimate Pyronite, He'd felt the need for everyone to bask in his presence. Within moments of timing out and his head clearing he'd realized what the crowd was experiencing was _not_ reverence. It was tension. Almost terror.

The crowd and many of the attendant heroes and security had basked in the sweltering glow of the super heated stone he'd filled the area with, small fires flaring up along the ground when something flammable grew to close to them. It had never occurred to Izuku to change the arena back, and once he had, he was already human again. Once the green light of his transformation had once more flooded the arena, paramedics had rushed to assist Monoma, who had eventually reverted to normal when his own power timed out.

Izuku had taken heart to that. As vicious as some of his Ultimate Forms had been, he'd still had the presence of mind to protect his fallen foe from the heat. He was beginning to form a picture of what made those forms so powerful. So. . . dangerous. It was like he had more experience than he should. All his Ultimate Forms had, to this point, been highly specialized fighters. Capable of brutally and efficiently dealing with enemies using their natural advantages, and shoring up the disadvantages of the standard version of the form. While he mused on the topic he was ushered out of the arena himself by a team of paramedics - They checked him over, assessing whether he was hurt enough to warrant a visit to Recovery Girl.

Several wince inducing prods later he found himself sitting in the nurse's office, as Recovery Girl deposited a handful of gummies into his hand.

"Now why didn't you just do that from the start? If I don't have to fix two of you every match this will go a lot smoother you know!" she groused at him.

"I didn't-"

"Nonsense! You've got so many options it's slowing you down! When you decided you were going to actually _use_ your quirk it didn't take more than a millisecond. How many villains do you think will give you the time to decide what form you'll take? None!"

He fell silent at that, a look of consternation on his face. Was she right? Was he getting in his own way overthinking it? Most of his forms had some degree of durability. . . well, except Grey Matter.

Recovery Girl looked at him out of the corner of her eye as she moved across the room to the other boy who'd just fought, Monoma now unconscious in an infirmary bed. It was interesting to watch All Might's successor thinking so hard. Lord knows the man himself rarely put much thought into his problems. All go, and no stop. That was All Might.

Izuku sat in a corner of the room his hand rising and falling from his side in gunslingers pose, his surroundings forgotten as he pointedly stared away from the funny watch he always wore.

Class 1-A had been celebrating for some time with an amazed Hatsume milling about them before everyone realized the ramifications of Izuku's win for the poor girl.

Many of the women turned pitying gazes on the pink haired engineer who'd invaded their viewing area. She was staring at the arena, the next match temporarily postponed as Cementoss used tremendous flows of concrete to work through and around the now cooling pillars of heat and stone Izuku's battle had left littering the area.

Mineta noted the looks and chose to ignore them. He had to play this smart. He had to be like Izuku. So, while inside he was straining to stare at Hatsume's admittedly impressive bust, instead he sidled up next to her, made a 'playful' pat on her shoulder, and said;

"See? Credit where it's due, guys a monster. Literally. You don't really gotta worry about him."

He hoped he came across as the compassionate friend Izuku usually did. He'd have to ask what the trick to it was. Contrary to the worry he expected to see on her face when he looked up, Mineta was greatly discomforted to find a look of excitement on her.

"It... it's the watch..."

Her strange eyes flicked back and forth across the arena while she mumbled.

"Eh?" Mineta said taking a step back as Hatsume as she grew wild eyed and increasingly flushed.

"ITS THE WATCH! I GOTTA SEE HIM! RIGHT NOW!"

She practically screamed at him, making him want to cover his ears.

Most of Class 1-A had been paying loose attention to the girl, but Asui, in particular, swiveled her head to look at Hatsume as she spoke, her attention instantly diverted from the conversation she'd been having with Ashido.

Asui and Mineta stared at the exit for several moments after the crazed girl left - neither quite sure how to feel.

Some time later found the next two combatants entering the arena. Tokoyami stared blqnkly at Uraraka as they each made their way to the center of the arena.

"It would seem we'll be the first of our class to do battle." he crowed at her.

He had to really work at the cool and aloof bit. Excited was an understatement of his current mood. He could feel the ever present shadow at his core writhing with anticipation.

Hed managed to keep his use of his quirk stealthy and low key throughout the first two matches. He was as close to full power as he could be. And thanks to some judicious planning, he doubted most of his class truly grasped his full strength.

"Right! Do your best Tokoyami!" the energetic girl practically glowed with frantic energy, and Tokoyami was forced to look away shyly. she was simply too cute for her own good.

And dangerous.

The bird headed boy was under no illusion as to her strength. If she managed to use her power on him even once hed find himself hurled across the city before he even knew what was going on.

He often wondered if the upbeat girl really understood how lethal her power was. If her close combat skills were better she'd have been able to simply hurl that Noumu creature from the USJ into the sun.

Meanwhile, Uraraka was having a very _different_ pre match thought proccess.

 _Oh man. I have no idea how to get around that crazy shadow thing of his. In terms of range, Tokoyami, Bakugou and Todoroki completely outclass me._

She glanced up at the stands where she knew that 1-A waited. Izuku would have no doubt found his way to back by now. He'd be sitting down and watching the proceesings next to Iida and Mineta, frantically scribbling notes about their quirks until it was his turn again to do battle.

She started to wonder what he would do.

Something crazy.

Something stupid.

Something no one could look away from.

A smile Tokoyami would later look back on as _deranged_ spread across her face.

In the stands Izuku was staring down at the arena with the rest of his class when Mineta whirled on him, pointing an accusing finger at his face.

"Are you contagious or something man?"

"Huh?"

"Its the face. Her _face_ man. Why doesn't anybody else notice this?"

1-A, for the most part, ignored Mineta, as he continued to rant.

Uraraka hardly heard Present Mic start the battle. She was only dimly aware of anything beyond the arena. At the signal, she immediately shot off, circling Tokoyami in a series of prat falls and false trips she hoped would obscure her goal - and help her evade the tremendous arms of shadow that exploded out of the bird headed boy. when the match started.

She skirted the edge of the arena, slowly spiraling inward across the giant concrete stage, rushing over each square segment as though a child who'd never played chess was guiding her.

Tokoyami stood in the center of the arena as Dark Shadow swiped at the manic woman with ever increasing fury and frustration. She was incredibally agile, leaping over and sliding beneath the grasping claws of his quirk like a ballet dancer.

He became so entranced with the dance like struggle that he hardly noticed Uraraka slowly edging towards him, driving him to one side of the arena.

Eventually, and with great effort he struck a blow against her. The immense black form of Dark Shadow registering a strike through its tether to him.

He hardly had time to realize that Uraraka ... was _still smiling_ even as she hurtled across the arena, orienting herself so she would land in a tremendous two footed stomp at the opposite side of the arena from him.

Thinking of her quirk, he was suddenly struck by the image of a man stepping on the wrong side of a rake.

"Shit. . !"

The crowd looked on in amazement as the entire arena flipped up at an angle, like an immense concrete seesaw.

Tokoyami was launched well clear of the arena and Uraraka winced. She assumed someone would catch him if he was in danger.

She immediately began to relax assuming the fight won. Shed had to use her power on each individual segment of the arena to achieve the effect she wanted and the overuse of her quirk left her feeling truly ill.

"Impressive."

She stopped herself from stepping off the slanted segment of arena she was standing on when it finally danwed on her the no victory had been announced.

Uraraka turned, somewhat resignedly towards the voice - as Tokoyami, now anchored to the upper portion of the sideways arena by his bizzarre shadow monster, descended on her, lightly shoving her to the right - and out of the arena.


	14. Stone Cold

**I'm deliberately avoiding most of the canon matchups, it's not a very fun exploration of the characters to just point at the show and go 'so basically, that happens.' It's a useful device for skipping the unimportant bits of something, especially in shorter fics where you just wanna get to the parts where stuff diverges, but ultimately not as fun.**

Aggravating. That was Endeavors first though after watching a handful of the opening rounds fights.

His sons class was outstanding. Beyond powerful. In terms of fighting potential, many of them were already as good as some pros.

Especially that boy. Midoriya. Merely playing with his opponent. Drawing his fight out so his overwhelming victory would appear that much more absolute. Standing in the ring like a lord gazing upon his subjects even after he'd won.

It was a problem. This tournament was meant to be his _son's_ debut. His opportunity to show the world who the next generations Greatest Hero was.

He'd brought scouts. He'd called in favors. He'd ensured that this would be the most viewed event in the nation.

But he was beginning to feel as though he'd unwittingly helped advertise a class of monsters. His son could have a good showing. But he'd never outshine these little monsters to such a degree as to call it overwhelming.

His gaze cut towards the green haired pissant who'd kicked this all off, in the stands with the rest of his class carefree as could be. Not like his boy. A true warrior, sitting in preparation even now.

A vicious smile spread across his face as he thought of some choice 'motivation' and began to walk towards the preparation rooms.

Every set of eyes in the viewing room tracked one of the worlds greatest heroes as he left.

As it should be.

Uraraka returned to the spectator seats of 1-A shortly after her loss. Her brow was furrowed In thought and she looked distinctly unhappy as she plunked down into a seat near Midoriya without preamble.

Her class congratulated her on her showing, speaking briefly on what a surprise Tokogami's quirk turned out to be, even after weeks of training together.

She replied with half hearted thank yous and other such platitudes before settling back into her seat, arms crossed and frowning.

Izuku stared at her for a few moments before putting his notebook down in Urarakas lap and turning away to watch the next fight.

Disturbed by the sudden action, Uraraka picked up the book, and looked down at the page Izuku had left it open to.

The page was split into two halves, each half beginning with a caricature of herself and Tokogami.

Urarakas side bore a succinct explanation of her fight, strategy, and how it showcased her abilities to those watching. Her ability to lift debris of civilians was underlined several times.

Tokogamis was less detailed. It bore the words 'Swung his quirks arms in wide arcs' and a brief note on not being shown the lifting capacity, its maximum range, or other useful traits of the quirk.

If Tokogami could see it, he would howl with indignation at his deliberate attempts to obscure his quirk for the tournaments purposes being looked down upon.

Ultimately, Tokogami had chosen a strategy emphasizing victory through subtlety, over advertising himself.

"Uuu...!"

Tears began to form in Urarakas eyes as she glared at the page, refusing to look at Izuku as he sat placidly next to her. The rest of the class pointedly pretended not to see the slip, though Asui tensed slightly and was forced to stop mid turn when Uraraka turned and began half laughing, and half crying into Izuku's shoulder.

The rest of the class smiled down at the arena, content in their bonds, and the relaxation of tension.

In the arena, Todoroki had begun to stretch, his resting face as intimidating and strained as ever.

He barely registered when the pink haired girl across from him began to speak. He glanced up and then returned to ignoring her as he realized she was addressing the crowd.

"Mei Hatsume here! And what I'm about to do here is something any of you could achieve! What you see before you is nothing but the wonder of human engineering!"

The crowd winced as it became apparent she had hacked the speakers in the arena and was bellowing loudly at the entire stage.

She turned abruptly using her quirk to telescope her vision and zoom in on the idle form Izuku Midoriya, the brown haired girl from the previous fight leaning into him.

She furrowed her brow at his wrist where the fantastic device she knew he was hiding rested.

"And this is only the beginning! When I'm done _anyone_ will be able to be _slimy, creepy, fast or strong."_

"You hear that Izuku Midoriya! **You're going to be _all mine_!** "

Izuku, who had stiffened at her reference to Present Mic's introduction of him, gasped when she declared her intent, then looked down at the watch he'd been making less and less of an effort to hide as everyone came to overlook it, or simply assume it part of his quirk.

He had no doubt what the tech genius was referring to.

When he looked back up, Asui and Mineta were inches from his face.

"Possessive Girlfriend?" was Asui's barely nonchalant statement.

"Is it drugs? You drug them? Not cool man." was Minetas less polite statement.

"W-what?! No, I barely know her!" was Izuku's reply, his right hand creeping up to cover the Omnitrix protectively in his lap.

Asui squinted at Iida who was seated on Izuku's right side, opposite Uraraka, who had since pulled herself off the boy's shoulder and was obliviously wiping tears from her face.

Eventually, the frog girl walked around them, towing a still manic Mineta to the seats immediately behind them.

In the arena, Hatsume had begun starting her machines, talking a mile a minute to prospective investors and professional heroes alike. Many members of the crowd had taken to mumbling awkwardly at the played up activities of belligerent girl, who was all but ignoring her opponent.

 _ **"Are you done?"**_

A chilling voice emanated from behind her as she espoused the wonders of the grappling technology she'd built.

"Hey! Just a minute alright? This is the **good part.** " She said, a salacious tone in her voice as she gently caressed one of a dozen pouches she'd been rapidly pulling products out of and demonstrating for the crowd.

A sharp creak was heard throughout the stadium as frost spread from the stoic young man to encase the arena like a glacier prison, leaving Hatsume frozen up to her next.

"The match started more than a minute ago. I have been more than generous with-"

Todoroki was cut off as billowing steam erupted around Hatsume, clearing to leave a dripping, but rapidly drying girl brushing her shoulders off. She leered at him, waggling her eyebrows at him like they were sharing a great secret.

"Come on big guy, Its a flight suit by none other than _I_ the great Mei Hatsume! Why _wouldn't_ it be heated? I mean-"

She was cut off as he frozen her again, this time up to her mouth, leaving only her nose exposed to breathe through. A moment and some steam later and, now slightly more soggy than before, she continued her statement, this time hitting the activation on her boots and zooming above the blast of ice that flew through the spot she once stood.

"I mean, do you know how cold it gets at high altitudes? Wouldn't do for my customers to freeze to death."

Grunting in irritation Todoroki leaped to action, unsure of what means this girl might have to attack and not expecting any such resistance from the buxom mechanic. He quickly generated an elevated path of frost and began to circle the arena, ascending in a spiral towards the now flying Hatsume.

Hatsume for her part continued to hover, rising gently to avoid Todoroki who had to go to much greater pains to ascend than she did. As she did so she continued pulling objects from her pouches and bellowing to the annoyed crowd.

In class 1-A's spectator area, Asui suddenly leaned forward in her seat to lean over Izuku's shoulder, her head quirked to one side.

"She's like a loony tunes character."

"Huh?" was Izuku's response as his attention was drawn away from the fight and his rapid note taking.

"Like the Road Runner. She's not even really fighting." Asui explained shifting her right side was resting Izuku's left shoulder, causing Mineta to squint at her in irritation.

"Oh. Y-yeah she really can't read the mood huh?" Izuku replied, smiling slightly, and then turning back to his notebook to continue writing.

 _"""Says you!"""_ screamed the internal monologue of the many of his watching classmates.

"She can't keep acting like this though" mumbled Izuku as Asui rolled her eyes and moved back to her seat. "Once he gets serious, "theres no way tricks like this will work."

"Serious huh. . ." grumbled Asui, her stare boring a hole in the back of the green haired boys head.

In the arena, Todoroki had finally had enough. The words his father had spoken to him echoed through his head like klaxon, the volume rising with every failed attempt to gently subdue the infuriating girl who was presently making a fool of him.

 _"I know you don't visit your mother. But I was thinking of moving her to a new hospital. In America. Her presence **hasn't** been good for your growth."_

He had to control a burst of flame that started to emit from just thinking about it. The man was a monster. A monster holding him hostage with his mother dangled in front of him like bait.

 _I don't have time for this!_ He thought as a cold fury overtook him.

With one exaggerated wave of his hand a block of ice covered Hatsume once more, causing her to fall out of the sky onto the slope he began making the second he'd finished freezing her.

Before she'd even reached the ground a thick steam began to billow down towards him.

"Seriously just let me finish and-" she was silenced as he struck her oncoming form with a gut punch.

Before she could recover Todoroki froze her again, repositioning himself around the obscuring steam to drive another punishing strike into the hapless tinkers side.

He repeated this process several times - each strike more brutal than the last until eventually a wall of cement separated him from his target.

"Enough. Look." the gentle voice intoned, gesturing at the huge screen replaying the battle.

Mei Hatsume had been unconscious for some time. Evidently, whatever part of her suit freed her from his ice was automatic.

He had been bludgeoning the girl's unconscious body for at least a minute, as he'd been freezing her before she could fall.

 **"Is this thing on? OH YEAAAAH! I'm BACK! And the stone cold winner of this match is Shoto Todoroki!"**

In the stands of 1-A, Izuku stared unwaveringly down a the somehow sad form of Shoto Todoroki, no longer writing, and no longer smiling.


	15. Consequences

**As it turns out, Its a lot easier to regurgitate high word count chapters when I just blithely write without paying attention to typos and grammar. Who'd have thought trying to write coherently would be hard.**

Izuku rose from his chair, gently passing his notebook to Mineta for safe keeping - something which seemed to please him greatly as he immediately hugged it to a chest and allowed a conspiratorial smile to spread across his face.

"Can you watch that for a bit? I'll be right back." Izuku asked his mind elsewhere.

"OH! Dude yes! Go see your girl. I got this." crowed Mineta as he deftly ducked under a tongue strike from Asui.

"H-huh?" was the only reply Izuku could offer before the duo began to run about the seats set aside for their class in mock combat.

He thought it was mock combat anyway.

He had to admit sitting in the stands without getting a turn at bat must get the blood pumping.

With a shrug, he turned to run towards the waiting rooms.

Deep beneath the stadium, Todoroki pressed his head against the cool stone wall of his waiting room.

He clutched his left side with his right hand as though injured though he absolutely had not suffered any harm in his previous bout.

He glared at the ground in despair. His mind was pulled in a dozen directions at once. Shame for his near unconscious use of his fire half. Regret at the blatant ruthlessness he'd had to resort to in order to win. The room he was in chilled visibly as frost collected on his exposed fire half and left a faint sheen on everything around him. His breathing calmed and he returned to his usual aloof calmness, at least outwardly.

Todoroki had just finished tidying his own appearance up when an urgent banging emanated from the door to his small waiting room. He stared at it unblinkingly, knowing that the only person he'd expect here - Endeavor - would never deign to do something as pedestrian as knock. He had no doubt that in his own, deranged, twisted way, his father. . . love was not the word but, **cared** for him seemed appropriate. But his father cared not about him, Todoroki. His father cared only for the success of _The Bearer of His Quirk_ who was his _Successor_. He had an unhealthy obsession with both success and his legacy.

This led Endeavor to be a horrible father. Todoroki had countless brothers and sisters, all of them produced by his mother in his father's attempts to create a child with Todoroki's exact quirk. His mother, while she had been present in the household, was nothing short of a broodmare. Boxed in by the pressures of her family and friends - all of whom had been plied liberally with money and favors by Endeavor from the moment he'd set his sights on her - denied any recourse or means to support herself except for those oldest of professions, Todoroki's mother was a hostage. Todoroki couldn't see the situation as anything but an elaborate, legal, kidnapping.

And once Todorki had been born, and his quirk confirmed - Endeavor had applied only the most minimal of efforts to his family. They were taken care of. Had money. Never wanted for anything. But in his father's eyes, his brothers and sisters were hardly a step above chia pets. He'd be hard pressed to say if Endeavor even remembered half his sibling's names.

It occurred to Todoroki, not for the first time, that he needed a psychiatrist.

As he mused a flash of green cascaded across the room, flooding through the crack between the door and the archway it was set in. A short time later Izuku Midoriya drifted through the reinforced door. Todoroki assumed it was Midoriya at least. The being looked like a writhing collection of lithe muscle with a single eye set in it, bound by a stitched together sac of thick, grey skin - like that of a long dead corpse.

It was so disconcerting that it made **Todoroki** feel cold for a moment.

 _"Todoroki."_ spoke the bizarre monster.

"Midoriya." he replied.

Back in the stands of the arena, in the area specifically designated for 1-A, a fierce battle was being waged. Mineta ducked low beneath a tongue lashing that would have been significantly more than verbal, panting hard and immediately sprung forward to avoid the falling form of Asui as her frog-like feet slammed into the location he once was in.

"Stop moving." she spoke plainly.

"You tried to curb stomp me!" Mineta cried out.

"I _tried_ to ask nicely." Asui shrugged.

The class largely ignored their antics. It was somewhat needless to say that the sight of the two of them fighting over one or another of Mineta's blatantly perverted actions was exceedingly common. Even their teacher, Aizawa had ceased intervening.

The stakes, in the two combatants minds at least, were different this time. While both of them considered the journal Izuku had left to Mineta to be something he left his thoughts in, each of them had different opinions on what those thoughts were. While everyone was aware of Izuku's tendency to study the people around him, Mineta believed these musings to include his plans and thoughts on 'picking up chicks', while Asui held the more benign if somewhat selfish belief that it would contain his opinions on the women in his life. Like her.

Eventually, Asui paused in her assault to stare quizzically at Mineta.

"A Date." she stated, raising a hand to rub her cheek in thought.

"Listen you crazy. . . what?" Mineta replied cautiously.

"I'll get you a date. There's a girl I know who-" she was immediately cut off as Mineta decisively used her pause to sprint across the room. He smiled fearlessly at her as he secured the book to the underside of his shirt using one of his sticky balls.

"Sorry, but I can't budge on this one." he declared.

Asui stared at him in stunned silence. Until that moment, she was absolutely sure that she had a trump card for dealing with the little cretin. She knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that Mineta only wanted one thing. Ever.

So to see him showing such loyalty to Izuku piqued her interest. She was now sure she wanted to see what was in that book - before Midoriya came back.

Mineta had a much, much simpler reason for his choices. He firmly believed in teaching a man to fish instead of giving him one. And knew for a fact that any pickup techniques he might use in this book would become ineffectually if Asui could simply tell others he was using them.

Unbeknownst to Izuku, the battle for his notebook raged on.

Izuku stared unblinkingly at Todoroki. Largely because Ghost Freak didn't have eyelids to blink. He always felt oddly malicious while using Ghost Freak. It was one of the reasons the form typically fell towards the bottom of his list of choices when deciding what to transform into. Unfortunately, the situation had called for a form that wouldn't damage the school's property - so Ghost Freak it was.

 _"Why?"_ he said plainly. He didn't want to believe that Todoroki had been deliberately as malicious as to assault someone who couldn't defend themselves. For all his gruffness, he'd never done anything but work to exemplify the traits a hero should have. He always used his power to end fights as efficiently and painlessly as possible.

Todoroki appeared to think for a moment. He furrowed his brow as though trying to find a way to explain - when suddenly the door blew open, the lock ineffectual against the great flame enshrouded foot that struck it.

Without thought Izuku faded from sight, drifting towards the periphery of the room.

Todoroki's face instantly fell into a scowl.

Endeavors face was incandescent with rage. Flames billowed around the menacing man with such intensity that Todoroki was forced to chill his surroundings to avoid sweating - a sign of weakness.

"That. Was not. Appropriate." growled the larger man.

"I defeated my opponent soundly and suffered no harm in the-"

"You were played for a fool for a full ten count. You were ineffectual. _Useless. **FOOL**_." Endeavors blaze washed over the room as he spoke, clearly responding to his temperament. Todoroki fell into silence, staring blithely at his father as though the man were a particularly aggravating biting insect. This attitude must have helped to calm the worlds no.2 hero because the flames died down, and his gaze took on a predatory glint.

"Your mother must be ashamed of you. I'd better go she _doesn't see any more of you_." he paused then added, "on the television of course."

"No!" blurted Todoroki, his composure cracking instantly as panic took hold and a tempest of frost began to swirl about the room.

"Flawless, overwhelming victories. Your. . . _mother_. . . would appreciate them." The swirl of frost was instantly destroyed by a heat wave the billowed out from Endeavor in an almost casual display of power. The message was clear. 'You do not have the power to stop me.'

"I. . .Yes, Father."

From his corner of the room, invisible and intangible as he was, Izuku began to see the greater picture. He stared at Todoroki as Endeavour left. His face flickered from panic to despair, to rage, back to his carefully crafted mask. The apathetic face of a man who cares not of your life or death. Many would call this look of Todoroki's determined. Midoriya couldn't help but think of it as desperate.

He reappeared in the room next to Todoroki a hand reaching out to comfort him, but stopped when he saw the malice the other boy directed at him.

 _"We can tell someone. Blackmail isn't right and-"  
_

"And what? The authorities will believe that Japans number two hero, a man respected for his power and heroism, has been holding my mother hostage against my success and good behavior for all my life?" The room cool and objects began to flash freeze around them as Todoroki spoke with barely contained disdain.

"And they'll believe you? They'll believe the high school student with no license over him?"

 _"I'm sure. . ."_ Izuku trailed off unable to find a counter point. _"Maybe not. No. But we **have** to do **something**."_

"I am. I'm fighting to be stronger. To be better, more respected, more credible, than my father ever was. I'm fighting for the top spot. I'm fighting to be number one. That's why you'll never be able to help. Why you can't do anything. Because your every success is to my detriment." Todoroki's hands opened and shut as though strangling an invisible opponent, and he strode towards the door as it hung ajar.

"You're not my friend Midoriya. You're not my ally. You're my obstacle. You all are." and with that, he left. Every step tracing a path of frigid energy through the halls of the stadium.

Izuku stared after him, unable to think of anything to say.

Eventually having cleared the glacier Todoroki had all but left in the center stage, the next matches combatants had finally stepped up. Katsuki Bakugou stalked onto the stage like a caged animal, moving back and forth across the concrete stage like a jaguar waiting to pounce. He had neglected to be present in 1-A's spectator seats before now. He refused to show up and allow them to mock him. To stare at him in pity as they recalled his defeat at the hands of the nerd during the second stage.

This would be different though. Noone could beat him in single combat. Not the nerd. Not anyone. He was going to brutalize his opponent. Dominate them.

. . . Safely and Heroicly, he added as an afterthought.

He stared at her as she rose to the stage and immediately began undoing her shirt like she was in one of Mineta's sick fantasies.

 **"Aaaaaand the next fight of the day, the man with the _explosive_ temper, Katsuki Bakugou! Facing of against the Swiss Army Woman, Momo Yaoyorozu!" **


	16. Valkyrie

**I feel like people don't give Momo the right amount of credit for how scary athletic and focused she is. Plus her quirk is actually one of the best there is in the class flexibility wise.**

Terror flood Momo as she prepared herself for battle. She was immediately aware of all the options her quirk presented to her.

She was also aware that an arsenal of knives was of very little use against a cruise missile. Which was what she tended to consider Bakugou as.

Her quirk afforded her a versatility seldom seen in the Hero world. A perfect mix of offense, defense, and utility.

If only it wasn't so insanely hard to use.

So few of her classmates truly understood the nature of her quirk. She couldn't simply skim a picture or description of something and then make it. She had to see, understand, and then recreate the _exact_ molecular structure of a thing. Everytime she made it.

As a result of this she'd become increasingly studious as she'd grown older. Many considered her slow to act, and ponderous. Always considering or evaluating her circumstances.

The truth was she had a mind quite unlike any one else. It wasn't that she was slow - it was that she had to perform every action while holding dozens or even hundreds of structures in mind. Perfectly memorized and available to her at any given moment.

Certainly she could release her mental hold on these things. Free up a mind the world has never seen before, and will likely never see again. But then her quirk would become useless to her. She would be effectively locked from its use until she could reconvene with her home made recipe book, or remember by luck the composition of one specific item in thousands.

It wouldn't do to guess. She couldn't be 'mostly correct' and simply live with a damaged version of something.

Her quirk would be used perfectly or not at all.

So as Bakugou stretched and stared a hole through her head with his glare, she prepared. She cycled her mental list of objects, reoriented those things she thought of as her 'standard kit' the ten or so items she would keep in mind no matter what, no matter what else she would need to drop to function or respond.

These would be the only things she could access _reflexi_ _vely._ All else would require time. Focus.

She wished she'd had the time to have Izu - no, Midoriya go over more taydenite options with her. She couldn't fully understand the stuff, and so was limited to the shield and mace she'd been provided during the cavalry battle.

She felt it unlikely those would leave her top ten anytime soon.

Yaoyorozu Momo pointedly ignored the stares of half the shameless male audience as she undid her shirt. She had no extra mental space to allocate to feelings such as embarrasment, or shame.

She stood still as a statue upon the arena, awaiting the signal to start.

In the stands Mineta and Asui had found themselves at an impasse. Neither had much strength left, and the two of them stood opposite each other, panting and out of breath.

"Just. . .give up. . .damnit. . ." Mineta gasped in exasperation.

Asui opened her mouth to retort but was stopped as Urara calmly walked past them both lightly tapping each one on the back, and leaving them hovering in place several inches from the ground.

"You know Momo's fighting soon right?" she questioned them both, a disappointed look on her face.

"But she. . !" "But he. . !"

"Guys. Stop." she intoned like an annoyed mother, then put her finger to her lips in thought.

"Besides isn't Mineta after this? shouldn't you be like, resting or something?"

Mineta stared at her in blatant confusion.

"Um. The tournaments for winners. You know. Bad ass types" he pointed out to her, his expression indicating his current opinion of her intelligence.

Asui turned a speculative gaze on the tiny terror and murmured "One million points. . ."

Mineta froze in place as his mind raced to process the thought.

Midoriya and Yaoyorozu had gone up because they had been on the first place cavalry team.

Mineta was **also** on that team.

"I'm gonna freaking die!" he yelped.

Uraraka considered leaving in the air but quickly decided against it. Having her power active was like tensing a muscle. Doing it for too long hurt, and it was distracting.

Besides, Midoriya wouldn't approve. Weird that his opinion came to mind though, when she thought about it.

She dropped Mineta, and waited for him to leave before releasing Asui - though she knew the girls prehensile tongue actually gave her more than enougj leverage to move about despite her weightlessness.

Mineta sprinted across the room like a man posessed, visibly crying the whole way, and entirely unhindered by anyone as they looked on in bemusement.

Asui suddenly furrowed her brow and sat down the moment she was released from Urarakas quirk. The movement so minor on her otherwise unreadable face that only Mineta would have noticed it.

 _That little slime took the book!_

"I hope Mineta actually looks at that thing before he goes up." Uraraka said, a conspiratorial look on her face.

"Deku's around you guys alot - I'd be surprised if he hadn't thought of helping you at some point."

Asui was mildly flattered at the idea, but then shrugged.

"Minetas a lost cause. I'm more worried about Yaoyorozu."

Uraraka couldn't help but giggle at the frog girls casual dismissal of her friend.

" **I** think youve got it backwards. Momo came in first place on the fitness test you know?"

Asui squinted at her for a moment before replying.

"You got a score of infinity on one of those tests."

"I know right!?"

The two girls relaxed and chatted, until Present Mic declared the start of the next battle.

"Oi."

Momo stared blanky at Bakugou as the match began and he made no attempt to move.

". . .yes?"

"Get all your stupid shit ready." Bakugku growled in what Momo was quickly beginning to reqlize was as close to polite speech as he ever got.

A predatory smile spread across his face and he continued. "I'll wait."

She didn't wait. In moments she'd pulled the Taydenite Mace and Shield from her torso with only minimal discomfort.

Next was tinted goggles - to prevent debris and flashes of light from blinding her.

A thin layer of flame retardant chemical sprouted into being on the surface of her skin.

Nearing the end of her preparations a small cylindrocal object with a pin in it dropped into the open palm of her shield wielding hand where Bakugou couldn't see it.

She was ready.

"Rea-"

Bakugou exploded towards her, carried forward on the blast wave of a detonation he'd left behind himself as he'd begun moving.

Almost before she could react his arm had come around in an explosive right hook, bouncing off the kinetic absorbing shield of taydenite she brought up just in time to deflect the blow.

As soon as the first blow was deflected a second came, and a third.

She was unable to strike back, her mace busy deflecting blows that were hurled at her as fast a missiles, but she was keeping up. She was learning his pace, his pattern.

Just as she was beginning to search for an opponent in the seeming wall of strikes raining down on her something changed.

Bakugou smiled, a horrible slasher smile, and his next blow came down on her shield, but no explosion ensued - instead Bakugous hand scraped atop the shield, sliding around her guard, and leaving his open palm on the inside of the shield - facing her wrist.

With near nuclear fury a blast emanated from the palm, pushing her arm and the protecting shield out to the side amd wrenching Yaoyorozus shoulder in its socket. The pain was immeasurable, but couldnt compare to what came next.

Capitalizing on the opening in her defenses, Bakugous other hand came around with blistering speed, striking her in the solar plexus and then detonating - launching her several feet packwards as her body skidded and rolled across the ground.

"Just because that god damn _nerd_ gives you something doesn't mean its gonna beat me."

 _Fool me once bitch._

He thought inwardly, though counter to his general demeanor he thought it far to rude to actually say.

Momo rose from the ground already bruising, disinfectant and local anesthetic flooding from her skin to ooze over her wounds. An aspirin formed on her lip which she rapidly lapped up. In only moments she was back to fighting shape.

Not that she looked it.

She just needed an opening. A path to victory. A chance.

She waited for Bakugou to finish talking. She was barely listening. The portion of her mind she usually relegated to speech otherwise occupied, her focus heightening as a result.

Noticing her lack of a response Bakugou shrugged, and launch himself at her once more.

As though she'd know it was coming Yaoyorozu tossed her now primed flashbang up to eye level, turning to reduce the glare in her tinted goggles as it detonated.

" _AUUGH_!" bellowed Bakugou as he lost sight of his target and went tumbling across the arena.

 _Now._ Thought Momo.

She pulled one last object from herself, and charged at Bakugou, releasing her mental hold on all her options. She freed all her mental space. All her _considerable_ focus became honed on the single objective of toppling her opponent.

Sidestep blindswipe from k eeling opponent. Stomp Elbow. Knee strike to forehead. Evade detonation. Hurl bear trap under lifted foot. Skull bash with mace. Duck under hook. Smash femur. Roll behind opponent. Skull bash.

Skull Bash.

Skull Bash.

She paused, listening for the call that indicated her victory. It had not come.

Her mace came up overhead and she was succintly stopped by a wall of concrete.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she allowed her faculties to return to normal. Sound and Color flooded her senses as the crowd roared at her - the heroine defeats the demon lord.

She turned to a half conscious Bakugou, who was still struggling despite his obvious concussion.

"Midoriya is not my mentor, or my master, or my lifeline. I did not get into this school knowing him. Only _you_ have that privilege Bakugou."

Somewhere in the viewer stands All Might had his head in his hands, as all the other faculty stared at him quizzically.

Nezu, the ermine principal summed up the rooms thoughts succintly, when he said

"They're all quite the little monsters aren't they?"


	17. Balls to the Wall

**Oh wow does this arc ever tend to drag on when you actually pay attention to the side characters.**

Mineta sat in his waiting room, absolutely still. If asked, he would have told you he was thinking of what to do, stratagem and skill playing out across his mind like you've never seen before.

The reality was he wasn't thinking of anything at all. He'd only ever mentioned it once, to Midoriya, but in truth - he had no idea how he got or kept his spot in this school. His power was so bizarre and useless compared to powerhouses like Bakugou or Midoriya that he spent nearly every day waiting for the other shoe to drop. He hardly ever put more than the minimum effort into his work, knowing that ultimately his _best_ would still be subpar - so he simply chose not to try all that hard.

The tiny terror of 1-A shifted around restlessly as his introspection forced him to think about matters he would prefer not to. He was sure if he got kicked out of the hero program he'd still be able to hang around with his friends. But - would it be the same? He shook his head to clear his thoughts. No point in thinking about this. Nothing he could do about it. He couldn't help being held back by his power so he might as well do something productive.

Mineta lifted his shirt and began tugging on the sticky ball holding Midoriya's notebook in place. His thoughts took a lecherous turn as he began to wonder at how such an innocent looking guy could have such skill with women. It boggled the mind. It would, of course, never occur to Mineta that Midoriya had precisely zero skill with women. The idea that his earnest pursuit of what was right, spoke more of him than any pickup line ever could would likely short circuit the small boy's world view.

Eventually, his sticky ball loosened, and he pulled the slightly worn notebook from under his shirt. Lacking much patience for the cartoonish drawings he knew Midoriya filled the thing with, he fanned the pages until something caught his eye. There wasn't anything that immediately jumped out at him, so he did so several times before a chill filled the air around him, and the book fell open on a page entitled only 'Mineta'.

Izuku swept through tunnels beneath the stadium in a detached sort of fury. He'd been silently following Endeavor for several minutes following his own exit from Todoroki's waiting room when he realized - he didn't know what he was planning to do. It was as though his heart had frozen over. He knew only that he did not like Endeavor, no - he _hated_ Endeavor - and wished to hurt and **punish** him. The grim cast of his thoughts as they occurred to him distressed Izuku greatly, not only because of how villainous they felt but because he couldn't be sure if they came from the form he was in - or himself.

He had at first been furious when the full scope of Todoroki's problems had become apparent to him. He'd considered any and every option. Tell AllMight. Call the Police. Do anything really. But then, the fury had simply vanished. It was as though he had been smothered in a chill shroud of detachment. Suddenly _Todoroki's_ problems were secondary. The important part was the hate. The cold, unrelenting hate for Endeavor.

Once he'd realized what he was doing, Izuku had simply stopped moving. He hovered invisible and intangible in the middle of the arenas underground tunnels, absolutely lost, until he realized with some shock, that his decrepit hand was only inches above slamming down on the Omnitrix symbol again. Whether that was to go ultimate or turn back to normal he wasn't sure.

He hoped it was the latter.

Shaking his head Izuku decided he didn't like Ghostfreak. It made him think in a way that made him feel much more at fault than his other forms. They all had their foibles. But Ghostfreak. . . Ghostfreak didn't feel like it was changing his mind. It made him feel like he was being _honest_.

Now listless, he began to drift through the waiting rooms towards his own private room, lost in thought. He stopped when he passed over Mineta, who was hunched confused over his notebook.

 _He must not know what page to look at._

Izuku thought, not realizing how optimistic his outlook on Mineta was. It made him feel somewhat better to know that he was helping inspire Mineta to be a better hero. Unbeknownst to Izuku - that optimism and hope slowly peeled the marginal control Ghostfreak had over him, and the shroud of misery that had been hanging over him began to disperse as he waved a hand over the book, stopping it on the page he'd written on how best to make use of Mineta's incredible quirk.

With that, he drifted on to his room - where a green light flooded under the door.

Mineta arrived on stage right on time, and contrary to what many of his classmates would have expected of him, he was not panicking. Instead, he was squinting in what seemed like obvious aggravation, his brows furrowed together and his gaze all but sweeping over Iida - who was more than a little pleased to know he would not be contending with a real threat.

Iida marched forward to center stage one arm outstretched in a gentlemanly handshake. The least he could do, he thought, was treat his classmate with dignity.

"To a good match Mineta, may we both purport ourselves in a manner that-"

"Whatever man." Mineta spat, smacking his hand away with a dull thud.

Mineta walked back to his starting location even more aggravated than when he arrived.

 _Smug jerk. What 'Minetas refusal to work hard or ever be in close combat is a waste of his amazing quirk'. Damnit! Isn't that just saying I'm being held back because I'm a pussy!? Midoriya!?_

Iida stared dumbfounded at Mineta as he slowly moved back to his side of the arena.

 **"IN THIS CORNER! ALL REVVED UP AND READY TO ROCK! TENYA IIDA!"**

 **"AND IN THE OTHER CORNER! GREAT BALLS OF FURY! MINORU MINETAAAAA! Let's. . .GOOOOOO!"**

Mineta was far too aggravated to have a retort in mind to Present Mics introduction so he opted to stick with his original plan. Prove Midoriya wrong. He would do everything 'by the book'. Like a jerk with what Mineta generalized as 'like a million quirks' could ever understand his problems or tell _him_ how to best use his quirk. Once he saw this fight he'd get it. He'd understand that he was setting his expectations **way** too high for Mineta. Then he'd have to apologize. And _then_ he'd have to tell Mineta his tricks. The real ones.

"I will NOT be single this summer!" bellowed Mineta, as he withdrew two balls from his head and prepared for Iida's inevitable attack.

Iida, knowing full well that Mineta's preferred combat strategy was 'panic and throw his balls in your general direction' race off at an angle to Mineta, zig-zagging as he positioned himself to charge directly at the small boy. He would grab the smaller boy and then use his momentum to throw him over the edge of the arena. A quick win that would show his brother watching that he too, belonged in this class of powerhouses.

Unfortunately, what Iida failed to notice as he continued to put on speed - was that Mineta hadn't thrown a single ball.

He didn't seem to be panicking at all.

He stood stock still only his eyes slowly tracking Iidas after image.

Believing Mineta to be so paralyzed with fear that he could no longer react, Iida made his move - breaking off his erratic movements and firing himself like a bullet at the smaller boy.

Then Mineta _moved_.

With an accuracy and skill he would afterwards attribute to a combination of belligerence and anger killing his fear, in addition to _knowing_ he wouldnt be permanently injured in this safe environment, he blocked Iidas wanton shoulder tackle.

Dropping low, Mineta thrust a ball fifteen feet behind him, just at the edge of the arena, and then was struck by the full force of the much larger boys attack.

Launched backwards, he immediately did something that noone before this had ever experienced Mineta choosing ti do. He accurately landed on the ball hed thrown previously - and then bounced off it, flying boldly back into melee range with Iida.

With a dull thud he kicked out taking Iida lightly in the shoulder and landing a few feet away, pulling two more balls from his head as he did so.

The stands cheered, and many of those on the sidelines yelled with enthusiasm at the counterattack. Everyone was overjoyed at the match before them.

Except class 1-A.

"What the shit was _that!?_ " exclaimed a disbelieving Kirishima to a silently stunned room.

Back in the arena, slowly circled a perplexed Iida. Even now, he simply couldnt treat the smaller boy as a threat.

"I know what you all think of me you know." Minetas voice rang out even as he used one hand to throw balls at seemingly random parts of the arena.

Iida decided to humour him.

"Mineta, I assure you I have utmost respect for -"

"When did I even mention respecting me you ass?"

"I -"

Mineta ignored what he said next. He leapt backwards, bouncing off one of his balls and sending himself careening towards Iida.

Ofcourse, Iida would never fall for a trick like this. He had the best kinetic vision in the class. He had to, or his quirk would read 'blinds himself when he moves to fast.'

So, with a casual ease he jumped to the side - avoiding the inevitable thrown ball and raised a leg, lashing out at the lassing missile that was Mineta.

For the second time today Mineta acted out of character. He hadn't thrown a ball at all.

Instead he met Iidas kick with the ball in one hand, lessening the impact


	18. Ten Again

So to answer some questions. The alien names are the same as original bens because theyre easier to recognize, and because I like the background in the japanese language to make good japanese equivalents. I dont figure google translate to be good enough.

I also tend not to bother with all the japanese honorifics and such so it all lines up.

I also apologize for any weird formatting and if it causes problems reading. I try to use dividing lines and other little things to denote scene changes but the vast majority of the time the phone version of the site removes them when I post. Resulting in said weird formatting.

Iida stared blankly at the wall in the infirmary, unable to come to grips with what, to him, felt like it might aswell have been a defeat. Hed been almost catatonic as workers had hustled him onto a stretcher and ushered him to the nurses office. His lack of responsiveness had only faded when he realized Mineta had been dragged to his bedside to explain the 'side effects' of his quirk.

There were none of course. Iida was, as Mineta had then put it 'just being a whiny bitch'.

He could hardly deny it. The crowd had cheered the fight, and onlookers would certainly say it was a good match - but none of them really knew Mineta. They failed to understand how low a bar that boy set for the rest of them. How pathetic and useless Mineta. . .nohewas.

Because he'd just found that, even if only because of inattentiveness, he was on Mineta's level.

It was just as these thoughts began to circle in his mind that the door to the otherwise quiet infrimary burst open, and the human tide of all those members of 1-A not in the tournament flooded intonthe room and around his bed, where he had been sitting entirely uninjured forthe last few minutes.

"Dude! Did you see Mineta's face when you kicked him!? Pfft HAHAHA!" Kirishima blared as he dropped onto the end of the bed, tears already streaming down his face as he laughed.

Jiro snorted as she turned from her conversation with Hagakure and Ashido to comment.

"Frankly its a little disquieting. Izuku's dinky notebook shouldnt have made such a huge difference. But there it is."

"Izukus...?" Iida ventured confused as to what they were talking about.

Ashido immediately jumped in to answer, blurting "Oh my gosh, so turns out Mineta had Izukus little notebook hes always writing in right? And it so happens he'd done a page on how Mineta could improve! Thats how he did so good against you Iida!"

Iida turned pensive at this. He'd always considered Izuku to be one of the most powerful people in the class. He was diligent. Had a highly versatile quirk. Was well liked.

Actually. In that context. Iidafound that he found it much more comforting to think about this as narrowly defeating the plans of one of his greatest rivals.

"Come to think of it." CroakedAsui. "I wonder if theres anything helpful in there for me? Does anyone knkw where Mineta is?"

Class 1-A froze at that. They all had the same thougt in mind. If Izukus advice was such a drastic change for someone arguably at thebottom of the class. . .

What could it do for them?

Iida was forced to duck to avoid his classmates as they exploded over him towards the door. When the dust had settled Iida was left laughing at the foolishness of it all. 1-A was like a storm, powerful and unpredictable.

He was glad to count himself as one among them. With a much more relaxed posture he settled in to await his next match, noying belated that he had missed calls from his mother. He snatched his phone up amd dialed the number, unaware of how his life was about to change.

Down in the guts of the arena, Izuku had centered himself and was now pacing back and forth, occasionally chuckling at Minetas haphazard implementation of his advice. He wouldnt have called it a perfect showing. But he definitely saq the effort the small boy had put in.

Eventually his pacing was interrupted by a knock at the door. When Izuku went to open it, he found Tokoyami standing in the doorway.

"T..Tokoyami?"

"Midoriya." Tokoyami's voice was polite and softspoken as always.

"I wanted to speak to you before our match began. I know that you and Uraraka areclose." Tokoyami placed a strange emphasis on the last word that Izuku couldnt quite pinpoint.

"Close. . ?"

"She. . . is your girlfriend is she not? You rescued her during the entrance exams and have continued to boisterously interact with her since then."

Izuku was stunned to silence. Certainly he spent nearly every day talking to her before class. And she sat near him, and they often left school together, and she was pretty and. . .

"N-No!" He all but bowled Tokoyami over in his denial.

While Tokoyami wasn't far from the mark, the means by which he had arrived at the conclusion was flawed. In Tokoyamis mind, Izuku was what a visual novel would call a 'main character'.

As long as he thought through the premise that 'First Girl Wins'. . .

"But you dolike-" He nearly finished matter of factly before noting that Izukus face was beat red and his hand was slowly drawing towards the position he customarily set it before activating his quirk.

Without thinking Tokoyami reached out to grasp Midoriyas arm, his left hand firmly wrapping around the other boys forearm.

Thinking quickly he spouted the first bit of anime esque nonsense that came to mind.

"I won't lose to you Midoriya. I willsucceed Allmight as the greatest Hero of our generation."

Beneath his feathered exterior Tokoyami blanched.

That-that wasn't calming! Now hes mad at meand I threatened him!

Surprisingly, Midoriya remained still, staring dead ahead at Tokoyami before he started making that smileof his.

The green haired boys loose hand firmly gripped Tokoyamis forearm and with a fearless voice declared;

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

The two boys exchanged burning stares - or rather. Midoriyas glare was burning. Tokoyamis was more that of a deer in the headlights.

I wont lose! / What have I done!?

Before the two could separate a familiar beeping began to emit from Izukus wrist and he rapidly released Tokoyami's arm and began hustling him out of the room.

"AnywaythatsfineeverythingscoolsorrybutIgottatakethiscallanditssuperprivatelaythanksbye"

Confused by the development, Tokoyami was rushed out of the room just in time for the Omnitrix to blare aggressively at Izuku.

*bzzt* scanning mode activated, scanning for foreign dna

Okay. Last time it only took a few minutes. If I wait a bit I should -

The device on his wrist popped up out of its protective housing and a wave of green energy exploded out from it. Izukus was nearly blinded by the radoant energy and was forced to cover his eyes, as above ground the wave expanded to cover every person in the audience, and on the fairgrounds. Like a bats echolocation the wave reached the edge of its range and then reversed - plunging back into the core of the arena from whence it came.

The audience reacted largely with confusion. When no announcement was made as to the energies origin, and no Hero had reacted to it - they simply assumed all was well.

Except 1-A, who had long since come to recognize that particular shade of emerald light.

Many of them stopped in their hunt for the diminutive Mineta and looked around for Izuku, unaware of the size of the blast.

Back in his prep room Izuku slowly opened his eyes and stared down at the Omnitrix in horror. Hundreds of new forms were being entered into the device, each onehaving its particulars listed off and shuffled aside as the Omnitrix sorted them.

Izuku had no idea when the process might end. Or how hed find any given form in the hodgepodge when it did.

Ten minutes later found Izuku no closer to getting the Omnitrix to work for him, but still standing ramrod straight in the center of the Arena.

Without thought Izuku took up the gunslingers pose he had long since mastered for useage with the Omnitrix. It was familiar to Tokoyami, and infact the majority of 1-A at this point.

"ALLLRIGHT FOLKS YOU KNOW AND LOVE HIM, TEN FORMS IS TEN TIMES THE FUN, IZUKUUUU MIDORIYAAAAAAA!"

"AAAAAND IN THE OTHER CORNER! THE SHADOW IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH, FUMIKAGE TOKOYAAAAMIIIIIIII!"

"LEEEEEEETS GOOOOOOO!"

True to hisform Present Mic was practically standing on his desk yelling when the match began.

Opposite to that, Izuku was acting very contrary to whatTokoyami knew of him. He'd prepared himself for on of Izukus transformations - he had no illusion as to his ability to stop it. But instead of doing the expected the green haired boy had immediately rolled to the side - evading the attack Tokoyami had launched as the match began.

Izuku ran for his life. He didnt know if the omnitrix would be done before this fight was over - which meant he had to try to win without it.

Izuku set about establishing parameters for fighting his bird headed classmate.

Tokoyami, he knew, hated close combat. He'd hwrdly moved at all when he was battling Uraraka, instead optingto keep her at a distance using his quirk.

Izuku narrowly avoided a claw swipe from the birdlike shadow as he thought, losing a portion of his shirt in the process.

Dark Shadow originates at Tokoyamis core - which means its attacks get faster the closer you get to -

He failed to roll under an attack in time and was sent spinning to the left - his left sleeve torn from the shirt like wet paper with the force of the blow.

The onslaught of attacks suddenly stopped as Tokoyami cast a cold gaze at Izuku, who was slowly picking himself off the floor.

"Are you done? Will you uss your quirk now? Or am I so beneath you Midoriya."

Contrary to his words Tokoyami was actually quite worried. If Midoriya didn't use his quirk he might get hurt. Worse - Tokoyami was already somewhat of a social outcast in class, largely oweing to his somewhat. . .eccentric personality.

"I cant." Muttered Midoriya.

". . . what?"

"I cant!" Yelled the injured boy, lifting his left arm while gripping his injured shoulder with his right. Sparks of green energy danced along his arm as the Omnitrix was pushed to the limits of its processing power.

Tokoyami stared on in silence.

"I can't use my quirk right now. But I'm still going to give it everything I have! The body I forged for this moment. The skills I've honed."

Tokoyami felt a sinking feeling as the slasher smile of Izuku Miodriya made its appearance in the arena once more.

"So you better give it allyou'vegot. I'm coming."

And with that Izuku was off. He leapt forward as Tokoyami's assault began again, with renewed vigor. Attacks rained down on Izuku many of them grazing the green haired boy, leaving him covered in swiftly blackening bruises as he rushed towards Tokoyami in an almost straight line that left him open to the abuses of his opponent.

Eventually, as the crowd watched with baited breath, Izukus bloodied form drew even with Tokoyami and he began raining blows of his own down on his classmate.

Now on the defensive Tokoyami withdrew Dark Shadow around himself blocking blow after blow as he stumbled back in an attempt to make space between himself and the berserk boy.

With a sweeping backhand motion Dark Shadow expanded and launched Izuku backwards, sending him rolling along the ground.

Izuku slammed weak amd shaking arm into the ground and all but threw himself to the side, avoiding another strike from Dark Shadow that cracked the concrete beneath it.

As the desperate fight continued many in the ground began to grow uncomfortable with the fight.

"Hey stop the fight already ref! He isn't even using his quirk!"

The crowd began to roar, demanding the referee stop the fight.

"Shutup." came the voice of Aizawa over the arena PA.

"What? Do you honestly thing you'll always be able to use your quirk? Have you ever heard of a hostage? Have you ever metme?"

The crowds sudden silence was deafening.A silence that was only broken by the soft click of the omnitrox as it slide back down into its casing and lit up.

*bzzt* Cataloguing Complete. Please sel-

Izuku didnt even let the device finish. He'd figure it out later.

Tokoyami saw the look in Izukus eyes. They looked at the device on his wrist at the same time.And he knew that hehadto finish this before he could use his quirk.

Dark Shadow expanded to the size of a minivan,using all the strength Tokoyami had left in one final strike.

It wasn't fast enough.

An emerald light exploded from beneath the palm of the enourmous black claw as it slammed into the ground.

And came to a stop.

Slowly, the enourmous hand was pushed upwards as a truck sized, brick red humanoid pushed itself out of the crater caused by the impact. A molten red orb swirled at its core and its immense torso oriented on Tokoyami as it stood.

"Orbit Man! No.. No wait, GRAVATTACK!"

"Seriously?" Wheezed the bird faced boy.

"I know right?! Irony. Hey speaking of which."

One tremendous craggy hand gestured loosely towards Tokoyami.

"THIS ONES FOR YOU URARAKA!"

With a swift flick of his wrist Gravattack reversed gravity for Tokoyami - send the other boy flying into the sky and out of sight.

Heros on the sidelines immediately began to move towards Izuku who rolled his eyes as a frazzled Tokoyami came rocketing down out of the sky only to have all momentum cease 2 feet above the ground, where he then gently drifted towards the ground - outside of the ring.

"ONCE AGAIN, THE WINNER IS IZUKU MIDORIYAAAAAAAAA!!!"


	19. Whiteout

**ALRIGHT! Next chapter wraps this arc up more or less. Sorry about the irregular posts. Sometimes your in the mood to write and sometimes your not. That said. I'm curious - besides the no brainer option (Big Chill) what alien would YOU guys like to see fight Todoroki? Also, are there any communities you guys think this story would fit in? I have no idea how that portion of this sight works :P**

Yaoyorozu Momo was nobodies fool. While she felt herself more than a match for her classmates should things become 'serious', many of the tactics and skills she could bring to bear in an emergency were excessively brutal, if not outright lethal. While she challenged herself daily to make up for the gap between her lethal and non-lethal capabilities, struggled every day to devise new ways to fight and protect others - she knew at heart that she was limiting herself. Not that she had any _wish_ hurt others. But only a fool would ignore how much easier it made things.

So Yaoyorozu sat in silence allowing her mind to spill over the possible combinations of things she would need. Any onlooker would merely see the well-proportioned woman staring blankly - perhaps somewhat forlornly - into nothing as her hand flicked through the pages of a thick but compact handwritten journal.

In another part of the arena Todoroki did not prepare in so much as he seethed. He paced his waiting room like a caged animal - something class 1-A would easily describe as 'an inspired Bakugou impression'. Any and all attempts he made to think rationally were quickly circumvented by the subtle threat of his fathers to ship his mother away like an old dog. Like so much refuse. Like.. Well to his father it would have been 'like a tool that had served its purpose'

And when it came down to it, Todoroki knew that to go after his father in any other way than what he wanted - legally or socially - would not only fail but harm his brothers and sisters, who would be caught in the middle of it all.

He had one choice. Overcome. Surpass. Suppress. Only with overwhelming power in all spheres of life would Todoroki be able to thwart his father. He would settle for nothing less than the total destruction of the man. He would -

Before he even knew it an attendant was knocking at the door, sending falling icicles crashing to the ground and shards of ice skittering across the room.

He had not prepared, but he did not need to. His class was with rare exception, lightweight at best. B-list. Mediocre. And if the rest of the spectators couldn't fathom that - he would just have to show them.

In the 1-A spectator seats Uraraka flailed her hands in childish amusement at Gravattacks straightforward declaration, laughing so hard and long that Mineta, who had long since returned to the room was staring at her in abject horror well after the match had ended and Izuku's broken form had emerged from Gravattack to be carted back to Recovery Girl - again.

"Oh man! Deku's the best! That was so refreshing! I gotta apologize to Tokoyami later!" She cackled.

"Yeah but.. Didn't he just totally confess to you in front of the whole arena?" Questioned Mineta, secretly glad that Asui was no longer present. He had come to consider the froglike girl a friend more than an object of affection. Not that he would change his behavior towards her in the slightest. _That_ would be showing weakness.

Uraraka tilted her head and squinted at him as her laughter died down enough for her to speak. Her hand made a dismissive twirling motion as she said: "Nah, Deku's just got that whole avenge my friend's hero complex thing going on."

Mineta gawked at her. Honestly, it was kind of refreshing not to have to deal with another hapless crush on his green-haired friend. On the other hand. He was pretty sure his boy just got friend zoned. The pervert in him warred with the burgeoning seed of heroism Izuku had forced upon him.

The small boy groaned in annoyance at himself, so much so that he missed it when Uraraka mumbled: "It's not really Deku when he's like that anyway. . ."

Eventually, as the majority of 1-A slid back into their viewing room - firmly reprimanded by the teachers for running about the arena like 'screaming idiots' Yaoyorozu and Todoroki took the stage.

Neither walked onto the stage the proud fighters the crowd was expecting.

Yaoyorozu - contrary to what her previous fight had led the crowd to believe, walked onto the stage wearing an extremely thick furlined parka, the hood already cinched up leaving nothing but the upper half of her face visible.

Every step she took caused objects she had obviously created beforehand to rattle and shake about inside the coat, with the barest outline of a number of objects visible when her movement pull the fabric tight against her.

In the announcer's box, Present Mic began exclaiming wildly, stomping on his desk in a way that clearly bothered the already testy Aizawa.

 **"Can she just bring stuff with her like that?!"**

 **"** Her quirk is literally 'stuff'. If she were a Hero she wouldn't walk out into the field any less stocked than a Costco - why should this be any different?" Aizawa grumbled into the mic, largely for the crowd's benefit.

This seemed to appease the few members of the crowd who were too slow on the uptake to have already realized this and cowed a number of watching Hero's into silencing their dissent before it had even begun. The sheer incredulity and rowdiness of the first year tournament had begun to infect the crowd. Not necessarily for the better.

Todoroki slunk onto the stage and scowled at the proceedings. Dark circles had begun to form under his eyes and he appeared to be visibly shaking with the effort required to restrain himself. Wisps of frost drifted off him as his quirk bled into the air around him, and his eyes were firmly placed on the hooded figure of Yaoyorozu.

Both combatants eyes narrowed as Present Mic began their introductions. Neither of them heard the epithets or even the start of the match. The world outside of each other feel away and a fierce tension built between them. So it was that they felt more than heard the signal to begin.

Yaoyorozu swung her arms out, flinging small objects that Todoroki quickly recognized as grenades. He flung his Cold sides arm out in an arc attempting to freeze the onrushing projectiles but too late realized what Yaoyrozu had done.

The grenades - flashbangs he realized - were distributed overwhelmingly towards his 'hot' side. Even if he **was** willing to use fire to blast them, they would still go off.

A series of short staccato bangs rang across the arena, and many members of the audience who were too close to the stage blinked rapidly and rubbed their eyes, a luxury afforded them only because of their distance to the grenades. Todoroki was not so lucky, as the sound and light bombarded him, all but blinding him and leaving a harsh ringing in his ears that made focusing on his opponent somewhat. . . problematic.

He ground his teeth together in discontent. His fathers - Endeavors face, flashing through his mind. A discontented sneer marred the photogenic man's face and he could almost imagine his mother being carted off like so much produce. He began wantonly blasting arcs of Ice across the arena in an attempt to stave off Yaoyorozu's inevitable attack, and the crowd watched in awe as the stoic girl put her superior physical health to work, dead sprinting and leaping about the arena to ensure she was always on Todoroki's hot side.

Yaoyorozu's strategy for this battle was simple. Exceedingly so. She'd noted early in the school year that Todoroki never used his Hot half if he could help it. It was a point of pride for him more important even than his own life in some respects. She knew that the only way to combat the superior firepower Todoroki brought to bear was to take brazen advantage of this fact.

And so she ducked, rolled and slid about the flailing form of Todoroki, occasionally favoring him with a swift strike when she was sure she could predict and move out of the way of the attack that would certainly follow the confirmation of her location.

Todoroki came close to tears in sheer frustration. Couldn't she see? Didn't she understand how difficult it was for him not to _kill her_ with every blast? Endeavor never suffered this type of humiliation. He had to amazing ability to bring all the force he had available to bear on every problem. He never held back on an opponent or fought them to the last in a big showy battle. Endeavor was pure power. A power that allowed him to show absolute disdain for everyone he fought and every criminal he captured.

It was with a shuddering breath amidst the rain of blows now pouring out of Yaoyorozu that Todoroki knew what he had to do. And it was something he could never take back. A line to be crossed. Something that would bring him that much closer to his father's perfect son.

With a deep breath, Todoroki centered himself - and then unleashed the full force of his Cold side.

It rushed from him like a torrent, instantly enveloping the entire arena in meters thick sheets of ice and frost. The temperature in the arena dropped well past zero and ice slick covered the entirety of the ground making movement vastly more difficult for the beleaguered girl he was fighting.

Still unable to see or hear very well, Todoroki spoke into the swimming darkness that was his field of view.

"Be thankful, that I don't want to be seen doing this any more than you want to be seen getting crushed."

"You haven't hit me," spoke Yaoyorozu, a voice Todoroki only barely heard through the slowly dulling ring caused by the flashbangs.

"I don't have to," whispered Todoroki.

In the now enclosed space, Todoroki didn't need to aim his cold. He could simply suck the heat out of the entire area. With a firm grasping motion on his Cold side, Todoroki pushed Ice Cave they were enclosed in so close the Absolute Zero as makes no difference. A condition very few humans could reasonably survive. Except him.

He counted to sixty before he proceeded, allowing his vision to slowly return, and then hobbled towards his newly made Momo statue.

"It takes roughly four minutes for a frozen human to suffer brain damage. Less than that for tissue and nerve." he waved his Hot sides hand bitterly over her body, flash defrosting her the aforementioned brain damage or death could occur.

He grabbed her unconscious form by the back of the obnoxious ponytail she always bore and began the arduous task of dragging her through a hall he began to melt in the ice wall.

"Be thankful at least. You made me use _his_ power." Todoroki spat. Contempt rolling off him in waves as he emerged into the light of the arena - and promptly dropped Yaoyorozu to be assisted by the medics.


	20. The Big One

**This ones a bit long because I didn't wanna cut it off in the middle of all the dialogue and then write the fight in another chapter. If it helps (it may not really.) For most of the time I was writing the actual fight scene I was listening to The End, by Logic. Onwards to the next freaking arc! Their will probably be more Ben 10 stuff in the next chunk, just because Izuku's learning needs are slightly different than in the anime. Anyone have any predictions?**

 **If some of the emphasis in a sentence is missing its because this site keeps removing my bolds/italics etc when I submit the document. It makes formatting kind of miserable.**

Izuku dashed through the halls of arena in his desperate search for Allmight. He'd been able to remain calm in the face of the Omnitrix' strange behavior only because he'd had no time to think about it in the face of his impending match with Tokoyami.

Which was why, immediately following his check-in with recovery girl, he had immediately begun fiddling with the device. He'd immediately noted that his original ten slots were empty except for his most recent form acquisition - Gravattack. Izuku had briefly debated activating the Omnitrix while dialed to one of these nine blank spots but quickly brushed the idea aside. For all, he knew the device would pick a random - possibly dangerous - form that he had no control over, or simply turn him into the only available form (the massive Gravattack). Worse - since he had no way of knowing what the Omnitrix was actually for, he might simply cease to exist.

So he'd continued to adjust things on the device until he found a very complicated sequence of inputs that took him to an entirely different list of forms. This list was massive, and with some searching, he was able to locate some of his old forms - more specifically the one form he felt he could not live without - Greymatter. With relief he palmed the Omnitrix, hoping the increased intelligence would help him process the situation. Oddly, this did not transform him. Instead, he found himself staring at the original ten form menu - now containing Gravattack and Greymatter.

Izuku groaned in aggravation when it all finally clicked. He had been using the Omnitrix's equivalent of the _favorites list_. It was too much. He could hardly handle ten forms. In fact, Izuku could hardly handle getting to school on time every day.

He sprinted through the underground halls, barely registering the assorted yells and screams of the crowd he could vaguely hear through the thick concrete walls. His sprint was cut short when eventually he began to hear voices around the next corner and he slowed to a stop to avoid careening into any oncoming passerby. To his surprise, Uraraka and Mineta rounded the corner all but running into Izuku. They looked distressed and as they glanced at him then at each other, Izuku suddenly had the sinking feeling that something was very wrong.

Mineta and Uraraka seemed to come to some silent mutual agreement and then, both speaking at once blurted:

"Nothing! The girls were beating me up again!"

"Momo got really hurt in her fight with Todoroki!"

They each looked at each other again, with Mineta breaking the bizarre silence, his hands clutching his head as though in panic.

"Why would you tell him that?!"

"Because she's our friend! Duh!" countered Uraraka, her hands instantly dropping down to her hips as though waiting for Mineta to trigger a stern lecture.

"Yeah but now your gonna set the freaking justice junkie off! You didn't see this guy during the USJ thing! He's gonna get himself messed up again!"

"Listen here you tiny-" Uraraka intoned like an exasperated mother before Izuku summarily stopped listening.

Izuku's mind had already spun out into a thousand trains of thought.

Yaoyorozu was hurt? Against. . . Todoroki? But Recovery Girl is here so ... .How bad was-

"How. . . how bad was she hurt?" his quiet question cut through the ongoing argument between the two Hero's in Training.

The pair looked at each other again before Mineta spoke, uncontested this time. "She uh. Recovery Girl said its good this is the last match coming up. Cus she's going to be busy with Momo for a couple weeks."

Izuku did a double take at that. It took Recovery Girl mere moments to remedy a broken bone. Or even several. He was glad that Yaoyorozu would be alright, but it boggled his mind how much damage she would have to sustain for it to tax the elderly hero.

He furrowed his brow and stepped to the side, intending to walk around the pair but was stopped as Uraraka reached out to grab him by the wrist. He turned to look at her only to find her steely gaze inches from his face.

"Deku-" she began pulling back once she'd gotten his attention. "- we'll go see her after your match okay? So don't go getting hurt and ending up in the infirmary before us."

The brown haired girl let go of him and glanced to the side cocking hips and pouting. "I mean, why does Todoroki have to be such a jerk?"

Mineta snorted at that. "Don't listen to her bro, she's just being tsundere or some shit. When it occurred to her you were up next she was basically breathing fire."

"I was not-!" "Thanks."

Izuku cut them off before they could begin arguing again. "I promise, I'll be okay. And Todoroki. . ." He thought back to the other boy's conversation with Endeavor ". . .Todoroki's gonna be okay too." A grim smile spread across his face, sending a chill down Mineta's spine that went unnoticed by everyone else present.

And with that, Izuku was gone - running down the hall in the same direction he'd been going before the impromptu pep talk.

Todoroki rested his forehead against the cool surface of the table in his waiting room. He felt. . . unbalanced. As though he desperately wanted to do. . .something. Every time he tried to center himself he was only drawn back his earliest conclusions as to his present situation. He stared absently at his left hand as he allowed a mote of flame to sit in his palm, a sharp counterpoint to the coldness he felt in his soul. He allowed the dancing of the flame to lull him into a state of calmness he found he had been lacking as of late. It was like he was slowly feeding all his frustrations into the tiny flame, alleviating some of the massive burden to succeed he always felt on his shoulders.

All too soon his respite was cut short, as the door to his room was slammed open and the muscular for of Endeavor strode into the room.

Todoroki quickly eradicated the flame, lest his father see him using the disgusting man's quirk.

" **Excellent my boy!** That is the type of victory I want the world to see! Overwhelming! An unstoppable force that cannot be reasoned with!" The man with the burning beard laughed deeply for a moment before his expression abruptly turned serious.

"Now. Listen. I just had the most interesting conversation with a colleague of mine and-"

"You mean Allmight."

Endeavor favored his son with a scathing glare, to which Todoroki responded with a shrug.

"You don't respect anyone else enough to call them your colleague when you're in private."

Todoroki had long since learned that for all his father essentially owned him, there were little ways he could dig at him. These petty acts of revenge and interruption were just about the only joy he could derive from interacting with his father, and so he took advantage of every slip he could.

His father, for his part, merely shrugged. Ultimately he didn't care how the boy felt as long as he met expectations. Which. . .

Endeavors mouth curled up into a cruel grin. "Since you mention it. The muscle-bound oaf didn't say it in as many words - but I'm taken to understand that your next match is against his protege."

Todoroki stared at Endeavor in disbelief. Certainly, Midoriya was the only member of his class he felt had any real odds of beating him but, Allmight?

"You misunderstand - he's one of our teachers, from a certain perspective we are all-"

"Don't delude yourself. He is what I say he is." groused Endeavor, interrupting Todoroki's attempt to rationalize the situation. Endeavor spread his arms wide, gesturing to the arena around them as he continued; "This is exactly what we've always wanted. The two stars of the next generation, having learned directly from the two greatest heroes of the previous generation, duking it out in the ring."

A passionate gaze bordering on mania filled his father's eyes as Endeavor stared dead ahead at Todoroki.

"This is where you show them you're the best. Where you show them that ours is the legacy that will be remembered for ages to come as number one. And -" He walked across the room and firmly grasped Todoroki's left shoulder. "You're not going to do that using half your power."

Todoroki grimaced.

Izuku sat across from Allmight, just a little bit depressed at the sight of the great hero in his emaciated form. He sat mostly still while Allmight's bony fingers probed about the Omnitrix, reach up occasionally to prevent the veteran hero from accidentally transforming him or doing something with the device he was not sure would work.

"I just. . . I don't know what to do. Todoroki seems so desperate. Like he's been driven into a corner and has nowhere to go."

Allmight shrugged uncomfortably. Having been informed of Izuku's suspicions regarding Endeavor, he was somewhat at a loss for words. He'd always known the man to be abrasive, but he'd taken the rivalry they'd developed between them in stride, seeing it merely as a means to motivate himself and others to greater heights. If Allmight was being honest - and he nearly always was - he'd considered the whole thing to be something of a joke. He'd never much felt that, if pitted against each other, Endeavor would have honestly been difficult to defeat.

Todoroki's problem was. . . difficult to handle. He could make some inquiries, but generally, meddling in each others personal lives was something professional heroes just did not do.

Allmight glanced up at Izuku from where he'd been unsuccessfully fiddling with the device on the boy's hand. He had no idea why he'd brought the thing to him. The most complicated gadget he'd ever used was his belt buckle, and well. That was mostly just a vanity piece. Still, there was something heartening about the Izuku's stout belief that he could solve literally any problem.

He paused in thought for a moment before speaking.

"Kid. . .sometimes, you see stray dogs roaming about right? And they're mad - because they're hungry."

". . .Huh?" Izuku stared at Allmight in blatant confusion, causing Allmight to laugh mightily for a few moments, before descending into the wracking cough he'd been stuck with since his injury. Wiping blood from his mouth he elaborated;

"So, because the dogs mad, it'll attack you - even if you try to feed it. So what do you do?"

"Call . . . animal control?" timidly replied Izuku.

 **"No! Subdue the beast with your own hands young Midoriya! Make sure it knows that it can't hurt you and that you don't intend to hurt it! Force it to accept your kindness! And when it has had its fill, the dog will no longer be angry! That is what a Hero is my boy! We do not call for help - we** ** _are help_** **!"** Bellowed Allmight enthusiastically, expanding into his more familiar heroic appearance.

Izuku stared at the large man in a daze for a few moments before a feral grin spread across his features.

"I've got it! Thanks, Allmight!" he said, all but launching himself from his seat and out of the room, adjusting his Omnitrix as he went.

Allmight stared warmly after him for a few moments before a thought occurred to him.

 **"Do. . . I smile like that?"**

Izuku stepped onto the stage opposite Todoroki with a look of fierce determination on his face. Todoroki glared at him somewhere between disbelief and open hatred.

"Todoroki, I know you're going through some things now but-" Izuku began plaintively only to be cut off by Todoroki.

"Shut up. Before I told you that your every success was to my detriment, but I was more than spot on with the remark." the taller boy clenched his fists in aggravation.

"Everything I am, my whole reason for being, it's this right now. Allmight's successor against Endeavors. This is the battle that will determine my worth, and-" he bit his lip. He realized there was no point in continuing. More than anything his father would disapprove of him airing their private business on television. But he could still remember his father's words in the waiting room.

'Do well, and maybe your mother will even be proud enough to come back home.'

It sickened him, that his father could phrase it that way. As though she had any choice or say in the matter. But it was irrelevant now. He only had to win. His eyes narrowed as Midoriya injected himself into the silence.

". . .but don't worry Todoroki. Everythings going to be okay - because **I** am here." Todoroki didn't have time to be offended at Izuku's brazen co-opting of his mentors signature phrase as Present Mic's voice exploded over the arena's sound system.

 **"IIIIN THIS CORNER! THE PRODIGAL SON OF ENDEAVOR HIMSELF, TODOROKI** SHOUTO **! AND IN THE OTHER CORNER, MORE FORMS THAN ANY OTHER MAN, SHAPESHIFTING IS HIS PLAN, IZUKU MIDORIYAAAAA! LETS FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!"**

Todoroki was off like a rocket, aiming for the brief moment during the transformation before Izuku could act, he launched a blast of ice at the other boy, leaving a trail of frost on the ground as he slid around the arena at breakneck speeds.

The blast connected, and a spray of ice shards peppered the arena behind Izuku. From the frozen mist, the attack had created launched an immense creature of muscle and fur. At first, Todoroki assumed it to be the sightless creature Izuku had used in the cavalry battle but was swiftly disabused of the notion as he noted the black stripe pattern crisscrossing the orange fur.

Landing only a few feet from him, the immense tiger-like being became more visible to the crowd, standing half again taller than Todoroki, closer in size to Allmight than anything else, it had large bone spurs sticking out of each of its knuckles, and -

"No pants?" Murmured Todoroki.

 **"NOW LISTEN HERE TODOROKI SHOUTO, SUCCESSOR TO ENDEAVOR THE SECOND GREATEST HERO IN THE WORLD 'CUS I GOT A BONE TA PICK!"**

The huge tiger man stepped forward menacingly and Todoroki - sensing danger - immediately created a wall of Ice between them to obscure its vision. He then quickly rolled to the side and prepared to sneak around for a flanking attack, only to be surprised as Izuku's new form simply exploded through the two-meter thick wall of ice, sending shards flying in all directions.

 **"BEING THE BEST IS HARD! THERE'S A LOT OF STRESS AND EVERYONE ASSUMES YOU CAN SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS! BUT YOUR NOT MAGIC, SO YOU CAN'T!"**

Izuku's obnoxious outspoken and loud form lunged forward, slamming one clawed hand into the ground and executing a ninety-degree turn towards Todoroki who had begun moving before Izuku had even finished speaking. Unable to escape the locomotive-like speed of the beast Todoroki was grabbed about the torso by one meaty hand and slammed into the ground with so much force his vision began to blur.

 **"BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU NEVER ASK FOR HELP - CUS THAT WOULD MAKE YOU A MORON, AND RATH ISN'T A MORON LIKE YOU ARE!"**

The immense tiger man - Rath bellowed, slamming Todoroki into the ground with such ferocity and force that the ice he'd be trying unsuccessfully to cover the arm in shatter with each strike. After three such slams, Rath paused and slid Todoroki away along the path of ice he had made around the arena.

 **"RATH COUNTS ONE TECHNICAL KNOCKOUT AGAINST WHINY CLASSMATE TODOROKI SHOUTO, SUCCESSOR TO ENDEAVOR THE SECOND GREATEST HERO IN THE WORLD."** intoned the ludicrous creature as one hand slammed into the symbol of the Omnitrix emblazoned on its chest, causing a bright green flash and the return of the small green haired boy 1-A was familiar with.

Izuku allowed one hand to hover over the activation dial for the Omnitrix while he spoke in a fierce tone of voice. "Todoroki, you aren't alone. Were all here. _I'm here_. If you don't have the power to do something, you find someone that can. Anyone who says 'no' doesn't deserve the name Hero."

Todoroki had barely risen from his dazed state when another flash of green enveloped the arena and a new form stood before him. A Diminutive white creature that looked as though the white suit that covered its whole body had been sewn around it. Barely reach past Todoroki's knee the being vibrated violently before splitting into dozens of copies of the same creature, each one screeching **"Echo Echo!"** in a voice that sounded like half speech half pure distortion.

Hardly able to think Todoroki resorted to the tactic he'd used in his bout against Yaoyorozu. Something he should have done from the start. Unfortunately, even as he attempted to raise the impenetrable walls of ice that allowed him the level of control he needed to reach absolute zero, a shrieking noise erupted around him, like a wave of force he felt himself being pulverized from all directions and he fell to his knees covering his ears. The half raised walls of ice shattered and the shattered again as the ice was ground into finer and finer shards by the haphazard sound blast emanating from the dozens of tiny white creatures running about the arena.

One, in particular, advanced on Todoroki as it screamed, pushing him further and further to his knees until he was all but curled into the fetal position, where it shoved him back with a single tiny foot and then slammed the Omnitrix symbol present on its chest.

Izuku stood over Todoroki like the grim reaper as he spoke. Staring down at the taller boy with pity and resolve evident on his face. "It's over Todoroki. The best you can ever get from chasing second place is second place. You've been staring at a man who can only _watch_ the throne for so long, you've given up on checkmate. Your father isn't making you stronger. Acting like this. . .cold monster isn't making you stronger. It's holding you back."

Todoroki stared up at Izuku like a rabid animal. He hardly knew what he was doing anymore when the fire began to spew from him in an uncontrollable torrent. The stone beneath him began to vaporize and Izuku was forced to leap backward and stare at him warily, one hand over the Omnitrix in a protective posture.

"..in.."

"Todoroki, please we can-"

"...Win."

"You can't."

 _"I HAVE TO WIN!"_

And like that the battle resumed, with Izuku hammering the face of the Omnitrix down frantically in his attempts to stave off the torrents of Ice and Flame.

1-A said in enraptured silence as the battle raged on beneath them. The problem with the two fighters was that they were simply two adaptable. Anytime Izuku changed forms, or tried a new tactic, Todoroki would respond with nearly no lag time, changing from restraining, attack or defending with his control over a seemingly infinite amount of an ice and fire at the drop of a hat, oftentimes reacting to a threat before anyone else was aware it existed. Meanwhile, Izuku's options for an attack were just. . . too varied. If people weren't aware of the sheer power of his quirk previously - now they were.

"Why are we even in the same class as these guys? This is _nuts_." Dengeki Kaminari commented - the spiky-haired blond letting off little sparks of static electricity as his tension and stress levels rose.

There was a general murmur of agreement from the surroundings before Uraraka, who had been watching the fight with increasing nervousness since Todoroki had started using his hot half piped up.

"They're smiling," she said in disbelief.

Mineta rolled his eyes and answered "Izuku's always smiling. It's kind of his thing."

"But they weren't!" she asserted quickly. "When the fight started they weren't smiling. Izuku even looked kind of sad!"

"I think. . ." said Tokoyami hesitantly, "I think they're just happy to cut loose."

The class turned towards the usually taciturn Tokoyami in surprise, causing the bird-headed boy to shrug. "Have any of you ever really seen Todoroki or Izuku go all in before?"

That brought the class up short.

Todoroki felt. . . oddly at ease. If he had to describe it, he might, if pressed, say he was currently having fun. He was comfortably using what he was fairly certain was lethal force over such a wide area he was amazed Izuku could keep up. Then again. Maybe the smaller boy was thinking the same thing. They each wore fearless grins that many watching would later describe as 'crazed' as they tore into each other. Every gout of flame, every blast of ice, left Todoroki feeling more and more at peace. He didn't know if he was going to win anymore - but he wasn't sure he really cared.

He still had all the same problems as he'd had coming into this. But somehow they had all faded into the background. Like they were problems for another time. Or, more importantly, like they were problems he could actually do something about later.

He resolved himself to apologize to Izuku later for his callousness. Once he'd allowed himself to vent his frustrations he could see how he must look from the outside. Arrogant. Haughty. Ruthless.

Exactly like his father, he realized with some mental anguish.

He rolled to the side and erected a barrier of frost to defend himself from the onslaught of attacks once more raining down on him, as Izuku, in the form of some kind of giant globule of pure green ichor stretched to hammer away at him from across the arena. As he expected a flash of green light spilled around his protective barrier, and he rushed out to attack Izuku in his human form. He counted the seconds the other boy apparently had to wait between uses of his quirk, each one passing by agonizingly slow, but still somehow not slow enough to fill the time with all the actions he wanted.

An eruption of flame lobbed a reinforced comet of ice across the arena at Izuku, who slammed his fist into the Omnitrix once more just in time to change forms before he was tragically splattered by the projectile.

Todoroki realized that at a certain point he'd simply begun to trust that Izuku Midoriya 'Could do it'. What, 'it' was, he wasn't certain. He simply believed. All too soon though, he realized he'd lost sight of the other boy. Glancing around by his feet he carpeted the area around him in flame to dissuade any very small or fast forms from making a beeline for him - but too late did he notice the tremendous shadow hanging over him and look up.

There, with its arms crossed in an X pattern in front of its chest, was a building-sized being of red and white, a single fin like appendage sticking out of its head.

 **"WAY BIG!"** bellowed the sentient skyscraper, as an X patterned laser fired from its crossed arms down onto the arena like the wrath of god itself - knocking out Todoroki, and ending the match


	21. Crash! Boom! Gran Torino Appears!

I'm back - and though I might speed up or slow down releases (mostly because I have a whack job with insane hours) I promise that if I ever plan on just leaving the fic I'll try and find someone to adopt it. Because I know what I plan on doing all the way out to the provisional hero license arc - I just don't have time to write all the time.

In other news, I'm trying a new thing here - I wrote almost all of this chapter with my eyes closed just trying to remember what I had previously written as I wrote it, then back tracked to fix any obvious spelling mistakes. It's oddly calming. Anywho. It's Hero Time amirite?

* * *

Izuku stared blankly out over the rest of his class as the awards ceremony began. He couldn't really say he _expected_ to win - because that would be both pretentious **and** rude to the classmates he'd struggled and trained with on the way to this point.

But he would be lying if the large silver number _two_ hanging off of his raised platform didn't **greatly** disappoint him.

He looked to his left, at Todoroki on the first place dais, and the empty third place dais that should have held Yaoyorozu and wished for the hundredth time that he had a form capable of healing. Greymatter was greatly accomplished in the medical sciences - but he simply didn't have access to the parts the tiny titan of intellect would need to create anything of use.

Izuku shrugged though when he turned his gaze back to Todoroki. Something about the taller boys face was somehow... clearer. As though a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. And, though Izuku knew that Todoroki still had many difficulties to face - he also knew that that maybe, just maybe, when things came to a head the hero _Deku_ would be there.

Midnight sauntered across the arena towards the stage, a microphone in hand, and began waving and posing for the crowd. Izuku ignored her approach as he stared out over the collective faces of classes 1-A and 1-B. He noted scattering of other faces in the crowd, most likely the few non-hero course students who had made it to the tournament round, like Hatsume.

Iida's face was not among them.

Izuku could still remember the faces of his classmates when they'd told him about Iida's absence. They were cheerful - but strained. A facial expression that forced him to remember his encounter with Uraraka and Mineta in the tunnels beneath the arena. He let out a weary sigh and made a mental note to investigate Iida's situation via the internet and Grey Matter when he returned home.

His thoughts were momentarily cut short when he realized a shadow had fallen over him and a dainty hand cupped his face.

In the crowd beneath them, several faces froze, whispered conversations dropping and a chilly aura enveloped the stage.

Midnight ignored the goings on beneath her as she stared into Izuku's face, not with hunger, or lust as one would expect from her character - but worry.

"Don't have such a long face kid. Remember, we let you lose here in school so you can learn how it feels without _real_ consequences. You're not a Hero _quite_ yet." she whispered to him and winked coquettishly, turning her face slightly towards the camera as she re-engaged the crowd.

"Noooow then!" she crooned into her microphone, drawing the words out as seductively as she could. "Let's get these studs their medals now shall we? And to do that, here today we have-"

 **" _I_ have-"**

"All Might!" Midnight finished, posing and lifting a hand in the direction All Might had landed in his insane leap from outside the arena, directly onto the turf in front of the students. He remained in position as he landed, mouth half open and clutching three medals in one hand. Sweat began to bead on his brow as he decided if he should finish his interrupted self-introduction. Not for the first time while considering One for All, Izuku wondered if the power included some ability to redirect force. Nothing that landed with that much force from that far away should be capable of touching the ground without tremendous collateral damage - and yet All Might never seemed to cause any.

He wasn't, he promised himself, having this thought because of his loss from using Way Big. Truly. There was absolutely no bitterness at all in the thought. Izuku coughed and paid attention again lest Midnight notice his distraction - just in time to faintly hear All Might mumbling something under his voice before rising to his feet.

 _'I have arrived.' *cough*_

 **"NOW THEN!"** bellowed the number one hero, who turned towards the dais and gave both Izuku and Todoroki a meaningful look.

 **"You two certainly gave the crowd their money's worth! But next year - try not leave Cementos so much work hm?"** he said, laughing heartily as Todoroki and Izuku got contrite looks on their faces. He stepped forward and placed a medal around Izuku's neck, leaning in to speak into his ear.

 _"I'm proud of you my boy. You may not have been first place, but no one will **ever** be able to say you didn't take the world by storm."_

Izuku choked up, tears coming unbidden to his eyes. He had become so caught up worrying about his classmates that he'd forgotten why he was here in the first place. Only a few months ago, he would have had no chance of standing here, on the main stage of this event. He may have been a spectator, or he may even have let his dreams of heroism die and have avoided the event like the plague. But thanks to this man, thanks to All Might, he was _here_.

 ** _HE __WAS HERE!_**

At that point, Izuku couldn't help but cry. It was unsubtle and unbecoming of an aspiring hero - but he didn't care.

In the crowd of neatly lined up students, Asui and Uraraka gazed gently up at Izuku. They, more than anyone, spent enough time around the green haired boy to know _exactly_ how important this was for their friend. Around them, the boys of class 1-A looked on in disgust.

Kaminari quirked his head to the side and turned towards his fellows, honest confusion on his face.

"Whats up with _them?_ " he asked, gesturing over his shoulder with a thumb. "They've got this, I dunno, fluffy atmosphere."

Mineta shrugged, his eyes bloodshot, and his lip bleeding where he had clearly been biting it. "Just. Ignore. It." He bit out in a shrill voice.

It wasn't as though he was jealous. He'd already crossed those two off of his list of potential lady friends anyway. But as he continued to bitterly mull over his fight with Iida, he was forced to accept that his dopey, oblivious friend was right. If he was going to be a ladies man, he had to be a powerful hero first.

His eyes returned to the clearly lovestruck faces of Uraraka and Asui as they fawned over the 'cutely' crying Izuku, and then amended his thought.

He was going to be such a powerful hero that women _couldn't freaking control themselves_ when they saw him. This thought calmed him greatly, and he began to smile beatifically up at Izuku. The rest of his class ignored him. Several of them even taking a step away from the aura of menace that crept from him as he continued to look up at the dais. Later on - many members of the class would confide that his _smile_ was what disturbed them so. It was entirely too similar to one _another_ of their classmates regularly wore. And it _never_ hailed anything but trouble.

All Might, now finished tying the medal around Izuku's neck, and no longer able to shield the boys crying face from the crowd with his body, awkwardly moved towards Todoroki.

 **"Todoroki my boy! You look refreshed! Congratulations, on earning _FIRST PLACE!"_** He bellowed, a wide smile on his face as he placed the medal around Todoroki's neck. In a lower tone of voice, one not for the cameras, or the audience, he said;

 **"I can't say I know what was troubling you my boy, but always remember - as a hero, we strive not just for excellence in combat, but to help anyone we can."** as All Might spoke, he sent a pointed glance towards Izuku on the dais next to them, before continuing.

 **"And you do yourself a disservice by forgetting you are _surrounded_ by aspiring heroes." ** He finished, then reaching out gently he pressed the third place medal into the young man's hand. **"I believe it's best if _you_ present this to her when she is well again. Don't you?"**

Todoroki blushed for a moment and then nodded. It wasn't lost on him that his first place position was purely technical in nature. Had Izuku pressed the attack in his first transformation, or if they weren't specifically limited in where they could fight, he would have lost during their last exchange. He could no longer tell himself that his behavior, his scorn, was what made him the better hero. Because he _wasn't_. And while that rankled, looking up at his father in the crowd, no doubt fuming at this same realization, he thought maybe, it wasn't so bad.

Nothing that irked his father could be ALL bad.

Turning back to the crowd, All Might bellowed once more; **"And so I give you, THIS YEARS SPORTS FESTIVAL WINNERS!"**

And like that - the Sports Festival, was over.

* * *

Two days later, Izuku Midoriya, heir to One for All and bearer of the Omnitrix found himself back in class, and no longer the center of attention for all those who he passed on the street. He was a powerful Quirk user, and had an amazing showing - but ultimately, the public interest in a student could only go so far.

These last two days, it had taken nearly no time at all to find out that Iida's brother, the hero Ingenium, had fallen victim to a vicious murderer known only as the Hero Killer. Thankfully, Ingenium hadn't been killed - but it was unlikely he would be able to continue working as a Hero.

At first, Izuku had worried Iida would range out on his own, one of a few Vigilantes that worked as heroes, but who lacked a license. Thankfully, when he returned to school, he found Iida acting well _mostly_ normally, if oddly motivated to improve himself through study.

That knowledge in mind, he made a note _not_ to go through with his original plans for tracking the killer. For Grey Matter, highjacking all the cameras in the city and forcing them to track an individual wouldn't have been difficult. It was just... legally questionable.

Thankfully, he didn't have to go through with it. He hadn't been overly worried about the legal ramifications when he was Grey Matter, but once he'd changed back he'd almost screamed at how the little sociopath thought. It was, in all honestly, somewhat unhealthy that he was considering Grey Matter a separate individual from himself.

 _"Work Experience."_ Aizawa repeated himself, dropping a vast pile of papers on Izuku's desk, causing the younger man to stiffen in surprise.

"Since you clearly weren't paying attention Midoriya. You can hand these out to the rest of the class. It might give you more time to think about your oh so important _HERO NAME._ " The sleep-deprived teacher's tone was biting, clearly irked that he may have to repeat himself as he walked back to the front of the class.

"Since Midoriya wasn't listening. Let me repeat myself. Just the short version this time. _You need. A Hero Name. For your workplace experience._ " The irate teacher's eyes bored into Izuku as he stood jerkily and began quietly handing out the paper each of them was to come up with ideas on.

It was embarrassing, but he found it hard to pay attention in class any day after he used Grey Matter to think about a problem. The grey-skinned amphibian scoffed at the very idea of wasting anything more than the minimum amount of time sleeping. Unfortunately Izuku - a human - needed significantly more sleep than Grey Matter.

The bright side was that Izuku hadn't needed much time to think of a hero name. In fact, he already had one. All he had to do - was write it down.

* * *

Far away, in another portion of the city, two old men sat at a table in a modest kitchen. One was a small man, nearly child sized in stature, a walking stick leaning against the table next to his leg, which was covered in a thick padded yellow boot. He leaned heavily on the round wooden kitchen table, tapping his fingers on the table rhythmically while he spoke to his visitor.

"Max, you know I can't help but feel like you should have retired by now."

Max - a slightly rotund man wearing a long, loose-fitting Hawaiian shirt shrugged and continued to spoon two servings of a purple substance with still twitching tentacles sticking out of it, into two bowls that sat empty nearby.

"I'll tell you what Gran Torino - _I'll_ retire when _you_ do," Max said absently.

"HAH! Maybe if Toshinori was a better teacher - but you and I both know that poor kids going to need guidance." grumped Gran Torino before continuing;

"So. Tell me about this 'Omnitrix'."

* * *

Izuku arrived outside the front door of the small house with some trepidation. He was aware that whoever he was going to meet, had _personally_ trained _ALL MIGHT_. The sheer terror All Might had expressed when asking him to take this particular hero as his mentor for the assignment spoke volumes about how strict he must be. After the school festival, he'd been inundated with requests from big name heroes to mentor him, his unique ability to change quirks making him a perfect fit for nearly any team, and the overwhelming power of his ultimate forms meaning he was more than capable of defending himself in the event his mentor was unable to.

But there was something special about learning from the man who'd trained All Might. Someday, he too wanted to be able to pass the knowledge of 'Gran Torino' to whoever it was he chose to inherit One for All after himself. He wanted to experience as much of the legacy he had been given as possible.

And so, he had picked up his improved and repaired costume clenched his teeth, and made his choice.

His hand shaking, Izuku gently pushed the front door of the house open and stepped inside.

"U-Um. Hello? I'm here for my internship?" he yelled into the silence. He reached out and flicked the light switch that sat innocuously on the wall nearest the entryway - and nearly screamed in terror at the sight in front of him.

In front of him, laying in a pile of broken glass and blood, was an old man. He lay unmoving and Izuku instantly began to panic.

"AAAAH! A-Ambulance. I have to call an ambulance!" he yelled, dropping his suitcase and running around the room in search of a phone.

Just as he located the device, he felt a presence looming behind him and leaped to the side as a small object crashed into the ground where he'd been standing.

"Who're you and why are you in my house!?" yelled the shrill voice of an old man.

Izuku looked up from his dive and froze, confusion filling him.

"Y-your okay?!" he screeched as he stared at the old man who'd previously been laying in a pool of blood.

"Of course I'm okay! But my sausages aren't!" the old man whined, and gestured at a pile of ruined sausages on the floor where he'd previously fallen over.

The two of them stared at each other for a few moments before the old man repeated himself, shaking slightly as he spoke.

"Who're you?!"

"Oh! My name is Izuku Midoriya! I'm here from UA!" Izuku yelled as though he was speaking to a sergeant in the military.

"What!?"

"Izuku Midoriya!" he repeated himself.

". . ."

Silence returned as they continued to stare at each other interrupted only when the old man eventually yelled, still shaking with infirmity;

"Who're you?! I'm hungry!"

Izuku opted not to continue staring at the obviously senile old man. He sighed with resignation and decided to quit while he was ahead. It wasn't too late to accept a different work assignment.

It was just... such a waste. This man probably knew more about being a hero than anyone else - but there was no way Izuku could learn anything from someone so clearly incapable of rational thought. He made to reach for his suitcase, forgotten at the side of the door in his panic but found it sliding across the room away from him as a walking stick slamming into the handle and flicked it away.

Gran Torino stood next to him appearing without warning, looking up in obvious confusion.

"Who're you!? A thief?! You can't just take things from my house!"

Growing annoyed with the senile hero, Izuku straightened and began walking across the room to pick up his suitcase only to find Gran Torino there once more heralded by a rush of air - blocking his way. The old man wasn't shaking anymore. In fact, a familiar smile was on his face as he flipped Izuku's carrying case into his hand, dangling it in front of himself tauntingly.

"Who're you?" he asked again softly.

Slowly, Izuku's annoyance faded away as his pulse began to rise. A grimace spread across his face and he raised his left hand, his right hovering over the dial of the Omnitrix.

"Please give me back my suitcase - and I'll leave." he said, hoping he wouldn't have to hurt the poor old man.

Instead of answering, Gran Torino disappeared from his sight, leaping from wall to wall and rebounding off of seemingly every object in the room as he careened around the room. Clearly, he was still at least SOMEWHAT dangerous.

Izuku expected no less from All Might's teacher and slammed the dial on the Omnitrix.

His legs bent backward as their joints reversed, and green chitin spread across his entire body. Thick, ridgelike hunks of chitin gathered around his forehead producing an almost hammer like protrusion.

And just like that, Izuku had become -

 **"Crash Hopper!"** he yelled in a shrill voice. He bent his legs experimentally and began trying to track Gran Torino's quick moving form with his eyes for a moment. Seconds later, once he'd ascertained the pattern Izuku uncoiled his leg in a powerful jump that sent him on a crash course for the old man as he flew towards a nearby wall.

Sure of his victory, and hoping he didn't hurt the old man too badly, Izuku was greatly surprised when Gran Torino seemingly stopped in mid-air and flipped over Izuku's still moving form. He felt another burst of air above him, accompanied by the sudden impact of something hitting his back. Quick as a flash, Izuku found himself laying on the ground beneath the now menacing shape of Gran Torino.

Gently, as though carrying a child Gran Torino placed Izukus suitcase on the ground and popped the latch with his walking stick, stabbing the wooden end of the stick into Izuku's costume.

"Who. Are. You?" he asked, now slow and deliberate.

Izuku smiled, dazed by the older heroes prowess. Perhaps there _was_ something he could learn here; he thought as he replied.

"Deku 10."


	22. Adaption

Man, I really need to find some people to proofread my stuff for me before I dump it here. I cringe every time I re-read one of my older chapters - but the saved portions are gone from the doc manager so they're kind of a pain to go back and fix. I'm thinking of starting another Boku no hero related fic, mostly just for kicks. I was thinking of doing a parallel with Boku No Hero: Illegals (check the manga out if you haven't already) x Generator Rex or possibly the Gamer - though if I used the Gamer the fic probably wouldn't share a world with this one. Any thoughts?

* * *

Izuku kicked and bucked against the ground, flexing Crash Hopper's powerful muscles in an attempt to launch the Gran Torino from his chest and gain himself some breathing room. Rather than allow his balance to be compromised Gran Torino jumped backward, his feet lifting into the air and expelling a gust of air that thrust him well away from Crash Hopper's legs. While this smartly prevented Izuku from lashing out at the retreating hero, it _did_ show him how Gran Torino was capable of moving so quickly.

At the bottom of each of Gran Torino's thickly padded boots, there were a number of circular holes, no doubt corresponding to similar occurrences on the old man's feet. Each of them seemed capable of expelling air with an almost bullet-like strength, which Gran Torino seemingly used propel himself through the air. It wasn't lost on Izuku that for a normal human being this quirk would be effectively useless. No normal man would be able to use the quirk for more than a few seconds without falling over, crashing into something, or ending up severely disoriented at the end of a movement. Gran Torino's reflexes -which he must have trained for years in order to make his quirk useful - were almost a quirk unto themselves.

Rolling over onto his hands and what passed for knees on Crash Hoppers oddly shaped body, Izuku kicked off the ground determined not to remain still long enough to become a target for another stomping attack from Gran Torino. Crash Hopper flew through the air and Izuku quickly spun around, intending to emulate Gran Torino's pinball-like movement.

Contrary to his intentions, however, Izuku's movement wasn't nearly so practiced or delicate. While the Omnitrix bestowed its wearer with all the necessary skills and knowledge to utilize their new forms, becoming strong did not mean you had perfect lifting form, nor did becoming smart grant wisdom. In essence, up to this point, Izuku had been relying on his own knowledge of his enemies quirks, combined with the pure _instinct_ the Omnitrix gave him while wielding it.

And it was now becoming clear that that simply wasn't good enough to beat a professional hero at their own game.

Izuku heard a loud _*Crack*_ and lost his footing, as the wall panel he had intended to launch himself from caved in under his weight. The few seconds he remained planted in the wall were all Gran Torino seemed to need in order to dash towards him, slamming the head of his walking stick into Crash Hopper's chitinous skull with all the force of a jet engine.

The blow caused Izuku's ears to ring and his vision to blur - something he found hard to believe given Crash Hoppers ability to headbutt things as sturdy as a concrete wall and win. But belief had nothing to do with the reality he was living.

Gran Torino stood in place as Izuku frantically struggled to free himself from the wall, eventually sighing poking the symbol of the Omnitrix in the center of Crash Hopper's chest once with his cane - eliciting a bright green flash and causing a now human Izuku to fall from the wall onto the ground.

Gran Torino scowled as he looked at the teen in front of him, his eyes level with Izuku's for the moment. He gestured dismissively at the Omnitrix on Izuku's wrist and said;

"How many al- forms do you have in that thing?"

Izuku stopped and considered for a moment before answering "A few dozen?"

"So why, upon being clearly shown what _I_ could do, did you choose a form that basically did the same thing?" growled the veteran hero.

"So I could... keep... up..?" Izuku's voice grew fainter with each word as the scowl on Gran Torino's face widened.

"I thought Toshinori said you were _smarter_ than him!" Gran Torino groused then began poking Izuku in the chest with a finger as he continued speaking.

"Are you telling me you don't some form in there that could have locked down the room? Grabbed me from far away?"

Izuku stared blankly at the older hero, practically feeling the disappointment coming off Gran Torino in waves now as realization dawned on him.

"You're saying I didn't think before using my quirk. . . aren't you?" Izuku mumbled dejectedly.

"Using your power? HAH. That isn't even _your_ quirk. That thing could turn you into a sentient banana one day and you'd have no way to stop it." laughed Gran Torino.

Izuku was left awkwardly staring at Gran Torino, unsure of what to say, but was quickly saved from the consideration as his new mentor continued.

"Look, kid, I can already see your major problem. You look up to Toshinori like a _god_. You can't fathom his way of doing things as being wrong."

Gran Torino leaned in, now only inches from Izuku's face.

"All Might can solve any problem using overwhelming force it's true. But **Your. No. All Might.** "

The words hit Izuku like a punch to the gut, and he was temporarily unable to think coherently. Clearly, Gran Torino knew about the Omnitrix, knew that Izuku Midoriya wasn't the bearer of an amazing quirk worthy of succeeding All Might.

Gran Torino knew that Izuku Midoriya was just a nobody with a weird watch, that was in the right place at the right time.

It made sense of course - who else would All Might tell about his protege's situation but his own teacher?

"Who...who's Toshinori?" Izuku asked weakly. He suspected he knew the answer already - he was by no means stupid. But it was important that he be sure.

"Didn't that brat tell you _anything?_ I swear when he was even worse than you when I had him. Always charging into everything without thinking."

"So Toshinori is-"

"All Might obviously!" Gran Torino snapped at Izuku, a look of concern crossing his face as he mumbled; "I'll have to have a talk with that big moron if he hasn't even managed to tell you _that_."

He then shrugged and was about to return to his critique of Izuku, but stopped at the obvious look of shame on the boys face.

Izuku bit his lip and stared determinedly at the ground, swearing in his heart that he would do better - so that he would never have to bring into question his suitable as All Might's successor ever again. Which was why he was surprised when Gran Torino spoke again, this time far more gently.

"Look, don't get the wrong idea. You're not stupid. You saw what I could do and adapted as fast as you could to the situation. You can tell when your wrong, and you can accept when you need to change - that's already way better than _that_ blockhead when he was your age."

The old man's gentle voice calmed Izuku somewhat, allowing him to recognize his self-depreciation for what it was. Despite all that had happened to him, Izuku was still extremely conscious of his position as All Might's successor. He spent many of his waking hours worrying about how disappointed people would be when comparing him to All Might and had - on occasion - even considered asking All Might how he could pass One for All to someone more worthy than he.

"Hey." Gran Torino barked, his voice returning to its usual gruffness and snapping Izuku's attention back to him.

"I really _am_ hungry. Got get me something to eat - we'll talk when you get back."

Izuku pursed his lip but realized there wasn't anything he could do about his present predicament. He'd already realized Gran Torino had more to teach him than anyone else could, so now all that was left was to suffer the old man foibles.

* * *

Nearly half an hour later, Izuku sat at the small table in Gran Torino's kitchen patiently waiting as the old man nibbled on some Taiyaki. After spending a number of minutes sitting ramrod straight in his chair and expectantly staring at his new mentor he'd quickly realized that Gran Torino might be one of the fastest heroes there was - but he clearly did things at his own pace.

Eventually growing tired and failing to maintain his own tension Izuku quickly began to slouch, looking around the small kitchen in sheer boredom. He soon drew the Omnitrix, and began cylcing through his available forms, eventually coming to a stop on Way Big, which he looked at pensively.

"No." Gran Torino said while chewing on the last bit of his food.

"Gigantification quirks are only good for three things. Clearing debris. Fighting another giant. And Scorched Earth tactics - basically when you've got no choice but to *kill* the other guy."

Izuku winced at that. He was aware that sometimes Heroes ended up in fights to the death - there were simply too many dangerous quirks out there to take **everyone** alive - but he still disliked thinking about it.

"So. . .I shouldn't use Way Big anymore?" Izuku asked, still somewhat put off by Gran Torino's bluntness.

"That's not what I said. I _said_ there are only three situations where that thing is going to be useful." Gran Torino gestured at the empty plate in front of him and looked expectantly at Izuku as he waited.

Izuku rose politely from his position on the opposite end of the table and began cleaning the plate at the kitchen sink, after which Gran Torino continued.

"You've got a tough road ahead of you kid. Your _quirk-"_ Gran Torino emphasized the word with little air quotes he made with one hand; "-lets you have pretty much any quirk. It's amazingly versatile. But think about this, would you try to fist fight All Might?"

Izuku nearly screamed ' _NO!_ ' but then he bit his tongue to stop himself. When he really thought about it - hadn't he been applying brute force to _most_ of his problems?

"I'd probably. . . try." He admitted finally.

"Good. You're not a complete waste. So here's the deal. I'm not going anywhere, and you're not going to get any 'work experience' until _you_ can take _this_ from me." Gran Torino said, reaching down and coming back up from under the table with the briefcase containing Izuku's costume.

He smiled widely as he saw Izuku blanch and begin to shake mildly. Good. Toshinori would have just leaped across the table at him. Gran Torino knew that there was nearly no way this kid was going to get good enough to catch him in the little time they had together - but until the kid could understand the vast power that was allotted to him and use it **smartly** , this was the best way to teach him.

After all, as much as Gran Torino kept telling Izuku how weak he was - the truth was quite the opposite. For someone who had only nominally had their quirk for a few months, Izuku was entirely _too_ powerful. So much so that it was already beginning to affect his development. He'd found the hammer to his liking and now used it above all other tools - which just wouldn't cut it as a pro.

"Well?!" Growing bored of waiting Gran Torino barked at the still fearful Izuku, who had yet to move from his seat.

With slow, deliberate movements, Izuku lifted the Omnitrix from his side and took a deep breath. He looked around the room and was about to slam down the dial when Gran Torino added;

"And **you're** fixing anything you break."

The dour old hero looked pointedly at the hole in his wall as he spoke. and Izuku quickly blanched again, rotating the dial away from the decidedly destructive form he had chosen for this confrontation.

With a quick smack from his open palm Izuku's form was infused with green light, his body shrank and became spindly yet tough, even as an extra pair of arms and two extra sets of eyes manifested themselves. Blue fur exploded out over him, and he cried out **"Spider Monkey!"** as he leaped from his chair towards Gran Torino.

Gran Torino rolled his eyes at the childish need to yell every time the boy transformed but was quickly too occupied to levy any criticism at Izuku. Spider Monkey, while not superhumanly fast, was still extremely quick. The chittering monkey-like creature seemed to have a boundless amount of nervous energy, which Izuku used as he landed before Gran Torino, swinging one of his four arms in a wide arc intended to slam into Gran Torino's head and end the fight quickly - although Izuku was nearly certain things wouldn't be so easy.

Gran Torino ducked under the strike and merely snorted when Izuku's lower set of arms flashed out to attempt to grapple the mobile monster. A blast of air sent Gran Torino rocketing towards the roof, well above the head of Spider Monkey who stumbled forward as his grab was denied.

Just as Izuku was expecting Gran Torino began rocketing around the room once more, rebounding off nearby objects while causing nearly no damage to the room itself, and making it impossible for even Spider Monkeys enhanced senses and multiple eyes to track his movement.

Grinning ever so slightly, Izuku level the tip of his thin flexible tail at Gran Torino as though attempting to keep track of him with it, and managed to surprise the old man when a thick line of spider-like webbing blasted from it.

The attack missed and plastered the wall behind Gran Torino with a five foot wide net of the sticky substance.

Gran Torino continued moving, playing to his strengths and ignoring Izuku's feeble attempts at entrapping him.

It was a good effort, but this _wasn't_ Gran Torino's first rodeo.

Izuku continued to fire streams of webbing around the room, not a single strand of which managed to land on the older hero until Gran Torino noted a bit of drag on his small yellow cape. Looking back, he noted that the room was now so covered in the webbing that he had very few places left to land or take off from.

Adapting quickly, Gran Torino began using his quirk more frequently, preventing himself from actually landing before he rocketed away again. It was tricky, but it was easily one of the first things he'd learned as a hero to counter situations just such as this. He should reward the kid.

Like a switch being flipped, Gran Torino's passive behavior ended, and with each pass, he would land on or nearly a beleaguered Izuku, who had ceased spraying webs as he leaped and dodged to avoid the older hero. Spider Monkey's amazing reflexes allowed Izuku to dodge most of Gran Torino's attacks, but not all, and the wielder of the Omnitrix soon seemed to grow tired as he stood in the middle of the room breathing raggedly and swaying slightly in the center of the small room.

Gran Torino capitalized on this, his attacks becoming increasingly furious and directed, and Izuku cried out in a high pitched chitter of simian pain when he was finally knocked onto his ass in a corner of the room by a swift kick in the chest.

Gran Torino came to a sliding stop just in front of Izuku, as green light flooded the room and left a beleaguered green haired boy in place of Spider Monkey.

Gran Torino tsked gently but smiled as he looked down at the young man and spoke.

"Not bad. At least, you didn't try to race me or anything. It's a-" he was cut off in the midst of his praise as another blast of green light flooded the room and he instinctively jumped away from the threat.

A vast mass of green ooze began bowling across the room at him, strands and pseudopods of the sentient substance rushing forward to enclose him in a pincer attack.

Gran Torino rolled his eyes and lunged through a hole in Izuku's attack, making a note to explain to the kid that tenacity was not a good substitute form intelligence - but was brought up short when he found himself planted firmly on the one wall he could reach - which was still very much covered in dense webbing.

Futilely he began to try and pull his feet from the gunk, even as the fluid green aberration in front of him resolved itself into a humanoid shape and quickly plucked Izuku's carrying case from Gran Torino's hands.

 **"I'lL tAKe tHaT"** warbled a clumsy synthesized voice from just over the creatures head.

Gran Torino grimaced darkly and began muttering about the cruel revenge he would bring upon Toshinori for leaving this little terror in his lap.

Privately though he was quite pleased. Izuku, it was turning out, might have even more potential for greatness than even All Might had originally thought. He was going to have to call in some favors if he wanted to keep his word to the boy. He didn't really do a lot of standard patrolling nowadays.

Once he was free though he let such thoughts fade into the background as he glanced around his kitchen and pointed accusingly at Izuku, who had returned to his human form.

"Fine. Be here in the morning tomorrow, but first, clean _all_ of this up."

Izuku groaned by way of a response and shuffled away to find a mop while clutching his bruised stomach.

Gran Torino grinned. Yep. Still Got it.

* * *

Miles away, in the city's modest port Asui looked up at the sky from where she was on the deck of the massive border patrol ship she'd been led to upon arriving for her brief internship. She wondered briefly what Izuku was doing, before blushing furiously and pumping her arms harder in an attempt to cleanse her thoughts with the sweet pain of excercise.


	23. Vreedle See, Vreedle Do

_What up! I'm back! I actually wrote this chapter a full week ago but lost the entire thing when the site wouldn't let me save it to the doc manager. I'm going to be using the intervening time before Izuku's actual confrontation with the Hero Killer to have him spend some solo time with a couple other characters. I do so love the scenes when the oblivious characters realize they like someone. Who do you guys wanna see next? Mei? Tsuyu? Uraraka?  
_

* * *

Izuku stared across the cluttered kitchen at his mentor. The geriatric old man had been exceptionally clear - _rude_ but clear - in his refusal to take the fledgling hero Deku 10 out on patrol before Izuku had passed his _'tests'._

Unfortunately for Izuku, Gran Torino was a **very** poor loser. The sometimes doddering old man had continued to use their impromptu game of tag as his method of training Izuku. And though the green haired boy had definitely improved in his usage of the Omnitrix, he was growing increasingly frustrated.

It was not that he could not win. Indeed, Izuku won their daily matches quite consistently. No, the problem lay in the fact that Gran Torino kept adding new conditions to Izuku's victory.

He was not allowed to use the same form more than once, forcing Izuku to invent and adapt strategies for a vast number of situations and combinations.

He had to count to sixty, out loud, between each use of the Omnitrix - presenting Gran Torino with a clear window to attack Izuku in where he would have no defense save his own body and skills.

But the worst limitation. The one that had Izuku gritting his teeth as he eyed the dozens of stacked glass plates and bits of fragile glass placed haphazardly around the room. Was that Izuku was not allowed to damage anything in the kitchen, or it would immediately count as his loss.

Gran Torino, being as petty as he was - at least in Izuku's eyes - even counted damage caused by Gran Torino knocking him over in this category.

Between all that, and the fact that by the time Izuku eventually managed to win it was already far too late to go on patrol with a high school intern, Izuku Midoriya, the Hero who would be known as Deku 10 had not donned his costume and taken to the streets even _once_ in the last four days.

"Well? You gonna start or not kid?" Gran Torino grumped, inwardly irate at the young upstart that refused to accept his final lesson.

"..." Izuku remained silent, peering around the room and allowing all the details to filter into his mind's eye. He was nowhere near as spacially aware as some of his forms might be - like Wild Mutt, and he was definitely far from as smart as Gray Matter, but Izuku had come to realize that things like tactical awareness and combat instincts weren't a part of his transformations. He didn't learn to fight better when he was Four-Arms. He just got stronger.

For this reason, Izuku had taken to spending longer and longer periods of time between transformations while fighting Gran Torino. He had to master the one form that he would never lose. His own.

This was the lesson he assumed Gran Torino wanted to teach him. This is why instead of beginning combat by transforming, Izuku simply lept across the room at Gran Torino, carefully placing his feet to avoid damaging any fine china and shifting his weight so if he was knocked over he would fall in a clear area. As he did so he immediately began counting down from 60, acting as though he had already triggered the timeout rule for the alien device that even know remained inseparable from his left arm.

Gran Torino sighed, making a long slow leap over the boy using his own quirk to glide through the air as surely as he could walk on land, a process he repeated when the boy charged brazenly at him once more.

 _'Kid, just accept it. Sometimes you **can't** win. Sometimes the odds are stacked so high, that there's just no feasible way of obtaining victory.' _ the old man though, a vein in his head beginning to throb at the boy's childish inability to examine his situation and accept that it was hopeless.

 _'Better he learns to lose now than in the field where it could kill him. Otherwise...'_ Gran Torino's thoughts turned to All Might. Even now the fool labored on, his life supported only by the incredible power of One for All that was slowly fading from his body. So many of the man's internal organs had been damaged or outright destroyed that every breath he took, every sunrise he saw - was a miracle.

All because he didn't believe he would ever have to back down.

Gran Torino continued to dance around Izuku, landing placidly each time and making sure to keep himself in sight of the Omnitrix. Predicting the boy's transformations was fairly simple for anyone observant. Just watch the watch as it were.

He had to give credit where it was due, the boy had all but eliminated any openings in his stance in the brief period of time they'd been playing this little game. He'd even taken to attempting to shield the Omnitrix from sight when he used it - something that _musclehead_ should have been teaching him to do from the moment it was found that the thing had fallen from space.

"Three!"

With another slow-motion swipe at Gran Torino, Izuku ducked, avoiding the more practiced Hero's counter-attack - an axe kick powered by the Gran Torino's quirk which would likely have knocked Izuku out for the rest of the day if he hadn't avoided it.

"Two!"

Rolling backward Izuku quickly lifted his left arm, drawing it across his body to hover near his right hip where he could use his body and right hand to shield Gran Torino's view of the dial as it began to glow and jut out of its casing in preparation of activation.

"One!"

Gran Torino - not known for being slowly was already reacting to the new threat, using an explosion of air from his feet to rocket around Midoriya so he could get a better look at the Omnitrix as he activated it.

What he saw gave him pause.

What Gran Torino didn't know - couldn't know really - was that Izuku Midoriya didn't need to be taught how to accept losses. How to recognize defeat. No, Izuku Midoriya might be a powerful quirk user now, but once upon a time, he'd been nothing but a loser with a dream.

Izuku Midoriya was a boy who'd been spat upon, ignored, and shoved down at every opportunity by his surroundings. He was the king of _all_ losers. Someone for whom victory was so alien a concept it was nearly useless to him. It was _because_ he was so used to losing that he fought so hard to defeat his circumstances. Every loss was a lesson, and in just this one arena - Izuku Midoriya was a savant.

All of this to say, Izuku activated a device at that moment - but it was **not** the Omnitrix. Instead, the thumb of his left hand slammed down on the trigger for the homemade flash grenade he'd made using parts he'd pulled out of some (quite expensive) children's toys and some scrap metal. When he'd motioned to activate the Omnitrix he'd palmed the device from one of the many belt pouches the support department had kindly added to his costume when they'd redesigned it.

Once more his most powerful form came through as the grenade detonated in his hand, his eyes already firmly squeezed shut and face aimed away from the ensuing blast of light that filled the room.

"YOU FLASH BANGED ME!? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR - GAH!"

Opening his eyes and looking around Izuku had to blink a few times before his vision cleared enough to locate a dazed Gran Torino blindly stumbling around the kitchen, and rubbing at his forehead where he'd bumped into the kitchen counter.

Quietly, and carefully - _'Wouldn't want to ruin this by tripping...'_ \- Izuku picked his way across the room to Gran Torino where he gently let his hand fall on the small man's shoulder.

They stood frozen like that for a few moments, and Izuku felt some warmth for the old codger. He didn't interact much with his grandparents, but he imagined this is what it would be like. Well. With less fighting maybe.

". . .Even if you won I can't _see_ anymore so I guess you'll just have to come back to-" Gran Torino began before quickly being cut off.

"It'll wear off in thirty minutes to an hour." Izuku chirped happily before continuing "And it's only ten in the morning! So we can go on patrol now right!?" Izuku bounced up and down as he spoke no longer razor focused on his goals, and once more showing his age.

Gran Torino knew the kid meant well, having nearly no concept of malice, but sometimes, _just sometimes_ , it felt like Izuku was messing with him.

* * *

An hour later found Izuku finally living his dreams. For the first time _ever,_ he got to charge across the rooftops of his city. Now in the form of Spider Monkey, he leaped and swung from roof to roof, standing guard over his small portion of the city. He felt the wind rush through his fur and watched people go by beneath him, pointedly ignoring Gran Torino's grumbling as the small man casually kept pace with him.

It was amazing. It was glorious. It was. . . It was actually quite _boring._

Izuku was forced to realize after nearly an hour of 'Patrolling' that - at least in the portion of the city Gran Torino lived in - there really didn't seem to be all that much crime. Intellectually, he knew there must be something going on somewhere. But that didn't mean he knew what to look for, or how to find it.

Izuku groaned in annoyance as he realized he'd probably have gotten more actual training done if he'd remained at Gran Torino's place.

Just as he was beginning to debate the merits of admitting his own ignorance to Gran Torino - something Izuku did not take lightly in the face of the petulant old man's tendency to gloat - he heard a cry for help.

His **first** cry for help.

Izuku was off like a rocket, clearing the rooves of two intervening buildings in a single leap and immediately launching a web line from his tail at the nearest wall that allowed him to slowly rappel down into the dark alley below.

Where Izuku _expected_ to find someone desperate civilian yelling for protection from a mugger, or perhaps a woman whose purse had been stolen by some nefarious quirk user, he instead found two very confused, grey-skinned men teary-eyed and bellowing at the top of their lungs as they alternated between keening wails and glaring at a large tourist map that lay discarded at their feet.

Both men had pale grey skin, bordering on corpselike that hung loosely to their frames and wore blue overalls over there normal clothes.

One of them was large - nearly as big as All Might, though much of that appeared to be taken up by an overhanging gut that must have made it hard to locate his feet. He carried on his back a knapsack that clinked and clanked with the sound of metal banging together as he moved. A hand the size of Izuku's head periodically ran through the big man's short black hair, and Izuku winced at the visible amount of grease that was disturbed by the passing.

The other one was much smaller, though still fairly tall by Japanese standards, and lanky. His arms dangled well below his waist, like a malformed baboon. His hair was the same color as his compatriots, but grown long and pulled in to a messy ponytail that was held in place by a brown trucker hat.

"D-Do you need some help. Uh, citizens?" Izuku groaned inwardly. He lacked All Might's charisma, and when faced with such a mundane situation, the fearless grin and boundless courage he always summoned to fight adversity were nowhere to be found.

The two men seemed not to notice Izuku as he landed amidst them and spoke, so he tried again, louder this time.

"Do you need help! Are you lost?" he chittered and as his lower set of arms idly began scratching his stomach.

This time, the two men heard him and turned to look at the blue-furred form of Spider Monkey.

"Rhomboid?" the skinnier one asked, wiping snot from his nose with his forearm.

"Yeah Octagon?" the large one replied.

"Is that there Arachnichimp offerin' us assistance?" This question seemed to give the bigger man - Rhomboid - pause. He eventually leaned down, placing himself at eye level with Izuku then asking;

"Is you offerin' us help chimp?" the man sounded almost suspicious, and Izuku began to see the problem the too might be having. They sounded American and didn't seem to have a very firm grasp on Japanese.

That or there was a caregiver in the city right now looking for two errant patients.

"Yep! I'm a Hero in training! If there's anything I can do to help - I will!" Izuku said, slowing his speech and enunciating clearly to ensure these two foreigners could understand him.

"Hot dang, that right there's convenient," mumbled Octagon as he shoved a lanky arm out to pull Rhomboid back out of Izuku's personal space.

"Look, our ride crashed a ways out, and we were hopin' we could maybe find a way home. Y'all got a place 'round here a fella could get a message out to the next system over with? Our Ma' will come get us right quick." said Octagon pleasantly as he began digging around in Rhomboid's oversized backpack.

"L...like a phone booth?" Izuku asked hesitantly, gesturing to the mouth of the alley where traffic bustled past, and onlookers would occasionally stop to glance at the strange congregation of people.

"Naw like... like a comm tower. You know, wit' the dishes on top?" Octagon supplied helpfully, stepping away from Rhomboids backpack with a small green gem in hand, cut in the shape of a square and bearing a symbol Izuku didn't recognize.

"There's a TV station a few blocks that way. . ?" Izuku once again gestured out the mouth of the alley and up the street.

"F'real? Dang. If we just kept walking we'd have found it eventually." Octagon said, exasperation clear in his voice.

"Thank yeh for the the help uh. . .Hero?" Octagon continued, pausing when they both realized that Izuku had never offered his name.

"Deku Ten! I mean uh. You can call me Deku Ten. Your welcome." Izuku said, smiling brightly and reminding himself to reign in his excitement. Unfortunately though, while Izuku had found combat came easily to him in his many forms - social trivialities did not, and his attempt at smiling merely left Spider Monkey's many sharp teeth pointed at the two hapless tourists.

Octagon flinched and quickly stuck the green gem in his hand out towards Izuku before releasing it to fall gently into Spider Monkey's outstretched hand.

"W-well anyway, gonna go meet are Ma' now so. Thanks, Deku Ten - Come on bro." Octagon finished before gesturing once more at the large lumbering form of Rhomboid, who had been patiently watching the conversation unfold while scratching his head in confusion.

The odd pair moved around Izuku and out onto the street then began walking in the direction Izuku had pointed.

Out of earshot of the Arachnichimp, Rhomboid spoke up.

"He was nice. Hey Octagon, you think we's could be Hero's?"

"Nah, I think only the ignorant rubes on this backward hillbilly planet can be Hero's Rhomboid. They ain't even got proper intergalactic communications setup." Octagon seemed to stop and think for a moment. "Still, we do owe 'im. Ma always said not to be ungrateful."

They took one last look behind themselves at the Arachnichimp, who was already clambering back up the side of the building he'd come down.

"Even if he _is_ a rube."

* * *

Yaoyorozu Momo stood stock still at attention in the dressing room of her new mentor Uwabami - the Snake Hero. She had come to this internship with the intention of drawing every possible bit experience, every nugget of wisdom she could, from her time here. She was, more so than most, extremely aware of how much harder she had to work than her classmates in order to be a pro. If the path to being a Hero was a marathon for most, it was an _obstacle course_ for her.

And so, she had arrived _here_ , nearly four days ago and with every new 'lesson' Uwabami taught her, she felt a portion of her _soul_ slowly wither up and die.

"- it's about posture darlings," Uwabami said, unaware that Yaoyorozu hadn't been listening. The vixen swirled about the room, alternating between attempting to poke and prod Yaoyorozu and her fellow from class 1-B Itsuka Kendo into a posture more befitting of girls 'as cute as we are.' Her maroon dress bobbing and flaring out with each turn to show more of long legs as she moved. Uwabami's strawberry blonde hair was tied up in a bun atop of her head, where the snakes that were a natural part of her hair eyed the room around them cautiously.

"You want to be alluring without being overt. Cock your hips, puff your chest out - just a bit dears, you're not even 18 yet - and _always_ mind the cameras." Uwabami punctuated her lecture by using her hands to jerk Yaoyorozu's body into the appropriate position.

It served nearly no purpose. It was hard to move in, would leave you with terrible balance in a fight, and frankly - was embarrassing. Only Yaoyorozu's staunch belief in authority allowed her to maintain the horrid posture and that same belief is what prevented her from biting her own tongue off and ending it all when Uwabami added;

"And don't forget to let your hips _roll_ when you walk. Oh~ the boys at that school of yours won't know what hit them."

Together, the three of them - the two students quite awkwardly so - sashayed into the hall, and towards studio where Uwabami would be performing her interview.

When the group arrived in the modest studio the talk show took up, only to find it full of panicking people Yaoyorozu nearly screamed in joy. Nearly.

Instead, all else faded away as she took in the scene around her. Auxiliary things like discomfort and pain bled away, and color seemed to dull as her honed mind narrowed her focus down to only the things she would need in order to act quickly.

Time slowed as she observed the crowd, crouched in panic behind their chairs whimpering and yelling for help - yells that could not have been heard through the soundproofed walls and doors of the studio.

Her eyes flickered towards the talk show hosts desk, where it sat on stage. The huge oak table had been thrown on his side, creating a makeshift cover barrier in the direction from which the three Hero's had arrived. Standing just behind the barrier was a huge man, who looked nearly as tall as he was wide, his pallid grey skin apparent in the extreme lighting from the stage.

He was slowly leveling what looked to be a huge gun of some sort at them. With growing horror Yaoyorozu began to act, moving as fast as her body would allow her, shoving her classmate out of the way and using the resulting force to assist her bid to throw herself in the other direction.

There was no time for anything else, no route to victory that included any more actions than that. Uwabami, for all Yaoyorozu, held a distaste for her antics, was a Pro Hero. Someone who'd experienced all the training of UA and actively worked in the field.

She had to hope that the woman would be able to manage a response on her own.

Time seemed to speed back up around her as the huge mans gun lit up and fired, a tremendous wave of concussive force tearing the tiles out of the ground in its path and slamming into Uwabami like a freight train - sending her sprawling against doorway from which they had entered.

She did not get back up.

Yaoyorozu would have groaned at the indignity of it, but was far too consumed in drawing the tools she would need for the situation from her body while listening for action from the two grey skinned men on the stage.

"Listen, Y'all calm down we ain't here to hurt nobody." the skinnier of the two yelled up into the crowd, before sending a glance towards the downed Uwabami and spinning to smack the larger man with the gun on the back of the head lightly.

"Now why'd you go do that Rhomboid? Yer gonna scare 'em."  
"Come on Octagon, she surprised me! It don't count if you scare a fella and he responds!"  
"Yeah but-"

Yaoyorozu promptly _stopped_ listening to them. They were clearly out of their minds and she could use the additional processing power to create things faster. One after the other the tools of her trade feel into place onto the muffling cushion she'd made first to prevent the sound from travelling.

Smoke Grenades, Flash Bangs, Night Vision Goggles, Izuku's Mace and Shie-

Her focus broke and her face grew a deep scarlet. At what point had she considered the two objects Izuku's? Why was she even thinking about -

She shook it off and returned to the task at hand. Her Taydenite Shield and Mace came free with a pop and she quickly set to clipping all her tools to her harness. She wouldn't use a Flash Bang if she didn't have to - the crowd could still be watching and she didn't want to hurt any bystanders. Instead, she briefly listened to the villains to ensure their distraction - and then pulled the pin on a smoke grenade, rolling it across the floor towards the center stage.

"Octagon, you's just wanna look like a nice guy when the tv turns on and mom see's us so she don't -" The bigger man stopped, beginning to sneeze and cough.

"Hey Octagon - you set something on fire already?"

"Rhomboid why you gotta say _already_ like I's some kinda pyromaniac?"

The two brothers continued to bicker as though the smoke from the grenade wasn't presently filling the room and precluding vision for everyone except Yaoyorozu.

With quick practiced steps, she dropped the Night Vision goggles into position on her face, allowing her to see the heat signatures of all those present in the room, then jumped to her feet and began creeping towards the two bumbling villains. She made sure to stay to one side of the massive gun still pointed at the door and was almost directly in front of one of them when she noticed something strange.

Up in the stands, where the crowd was still sitting in fear - there was a cold spot. A person shaped, cold spot. Even as she watched, the person - a Hero she guessed, was moving from person to person, then swiftly vanishing through the floor with them.

She nodded in approval when she realized another Hero on the premises must have noticed the commotion and was using her distraction to evacuate the civilians. Then, with nothing else to distract her - she swiftly whirled around and brought her mace down on the skull of the nearest villain. There was a satisfying crunching sound and the huge man immediately plummeted to ground unmoving.

She'd have thought it poetic justice but was already moving on to the next target. Unfortunately, before she could strike she was brought up short by a brief clicking sound.

Octagon whirled around in the smoke, unable to locate his attacker, shakily clutching the explosive he'd hastily pulled from a pocket when he'd realized what was going on.

"Y-you better not do nothing stupid! This here bomb'll take out this whole room if I take m'hand off the trigger!" He yelled, somewhat understating what he knew the explosive was capable of.

Yaoyorozu studied him from where she lurked in the smoke, her mind dropping into a problem-solving process that would likely leave her fellows shocked. She toyed with the idea of simply cutting the offending hand off. If she did it fast enough then it'd likely remain clenched around the bomb as it fell, allowing her time to grab the dead mans switch herself.

But that was only 'likely'.

She really did hate this. If she was willing to inflict gruesome bodily harm on, or outright murder either of these men this wouldn't be a problem.

But then, she wouldn't really be a Hero then would she?

Stuck in a deadlock, she began to wonder what Izuku would do at a time like- and there it was again. Breaking her focus as surely as a stone dropped in a serene pond. She was going to have to have words with that boy about. . . whatever this was.

She was dragged from her musings on the issue as the other Hero quickly returned to the room, having completed his evacuation. Now able to help, the hero Yaoyorozu had mentally dubbed 'Cold Spot' came to a stop almost directly in front of the beleaguered villain - in fact, the bomb-toting maniac physically passed through Cold Spot several times during his frenzied shuffling about the stage.

Yaoyorozu nearly smacked herself in the head. She was so distracted thinking of... _him..._ that the obvious fact this Hero could be intangible had barely even registered to her - even as he'd come and gone through the floor _multiple times_.

Appearing to finally settle on a course of Cold Spot lazily waved a hand through the bomb, leaving behind another bright blue spot of extreme cold in Yaoyorozu's infrared vision. Another movement, this one a quick downward strike with a fist, was enough to lay out the grey skinned man - who simply crumpled to the ground.

By this time, the smoke had already started to clear, and Yaoyorozu - firm in her belief that situation was settled with the arrival of an _actual_ pro, had turned to begin handcuffing the larger of the two men. When she rose, Nightvision Goggles no longer on, she was in the process of withdrawing another pair for the smaller man - but was brought up short as a brilliant emerald flash filled her vision, and left her staring at her classmate, none other than Izuku Midoriya.

The handcuffs she was withdrawing from her torso froze in place, as she lost the focus required to make them. Her face exploded into a bright scarlet blush and her eye began to twitch as she struggled to maintain her composure and hide her embarrassment.

The green haired boy stared back at her with that innocent look of accomplishment. Those clear serene eyes and...

Yaoyorozu blinked away the daze she was in, finally managing to distract herself long enough to finish her handcuffs.

 _'This'_ she thought _'Is a problem.'_


	24. Diverging Paths

**Bit of a shorter chapter but I wanted to do something a bit different. I started another story that I'm enjoying right now, but fear not, because I have way too many scenes of this that I haven't gotten to write yet to give it up.  
**

* * *

Izuku was feeling pretty good about himself right about now. True, he'd have to shelve Big Chill for a while. Just to make sure no one could misconstrue his sudden visit to one of his classmates as 'vigilantism'. But all things told he had _helped._ More than that, he had _Hero'd._

He felt amazing. He felt like he could walk on air. He started to understand why it was that All Might - despite his waning power - could not help but stop and fight evil wherever he saw it.

"Are you listening brat?!" Bellowed Gran Torino, stopping in the middle of a tirade clearly meant to instill fear and respect in his young charge to point at him with a single accusing finger.

Izuku froze and looked up from where he'd been, off in his own little world as his surroundings caught up with him. Shortly after Izuku had intruded on Octagon and Rhomboid's aborted hijacking of the tv station, Gran Torino had exploded into the small studio ready for a fight - and found only the three UA students conversing quietly amongst themselves as they awaited the arrival of the Police.

Not long after _that_ , Gran Torino had been able to impress upon Yaoyorozu the importance of leaving Izuku entirely out of her report to the police. While she had had more than ample reason to defend herself, Izuku had not. And while the hero Deku 10 was allowed to travel the city in costume, and use his quirk in public, _none_ of the UA students were qualified or _allowed_ to involve themselves in active crimes.

Yaoyorozu for her part had been surprisingly accommodating of this. Despite the possible backlash of the situation she had all but shoved Gran Torino and Izuku out the door when the elderly hero had started his explanation of why they had to leave. Izuku had to wince at the memory, Yaoyorozu's face had been scarlet with rage the entire time and he felt like she was going out of her way not to look at him. He really hoped he hadn't intervened needlessly. He knew that Yaoyorozu was very tactically minded, and it was entirely possible that his arrival had fouled her own plans at the time. He was sure that left to her own devices his classmate could have handily dealt with the situation whether he was present or not.

With a shrug and glance around the alley Gran Torino had dragged him into, Izuku resolved to apologize to her later. What was it Mineta had said? As long as you admitted to being wrong, even if you _weren't_ that would be enough to earn forgiveness from most women. To be honest, while he was leary of any advice his diminutive friend gave him with regards to the fairer sex, Mineta hadn't actually steered him wrong yet - so Izuku figured he'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

It's not like he had any better ideas.

"So... should we... stop then?"

Izuku hated to ask that. He didn't want to **_stop_** not when he was finally getting to help people. But he was too honest to ever delude himself into thinking he hadn't just broken trust with his mentor. Anything Izuku did while with Gran Torino was inevitably going to register as Gran Torino's fault. That was the simple truth of the situation. Izuku would likely get away with a slap on the wrist - but it was entirely possible that Gran Torino could lose his license for negligence.

Gran Torino looked at him askance and said: "No, we'll keep going for a bit longer - but don't run off and leave an old man behind this time!"

The older man's grumbling tone was gruff but conveyed a certain sense of pride in his student. He'd never admit it out loud, or condone such blatantly illegal activity - but Izuku had done well. It took a long time for most Hero's to accept that prioritizing bystanders over the brawl should just be common sense. It was a lesson that some of the Hero's in his generation - before such teachings had become standardized - had never really learned.

Izuku's face lit up and he immediately set about fidgeting with the belts and pouches of his costume. He need not have bothered of course. Somehow his clothing and accessories all remained completely safe while he was using the Omnitrix. Still, some of the tools Izuku had taken to carrying for self-defense between forms were... volatile.

Gran Torino gazed fondly at his newest pupil for a moment before leaping to the roof of a nearby building and turning to beckon Izuku out of the alley they had been standing in.

"Alright! No use waiting around!" he bellowed, briefly catching some of the fire he once had in his youth. Izuku noted that the declaration sounded surprisingly similar to All Might.

And in a flash of green light, Deku 10 was off again.

* * *

"Oi."

Katsuki Bakugou was not a man accustomed to being ignored. He was, without doubt, and regardless of how you felt about him, someone who had that most fabled of heroic traits - 'Presence'.

"Oi. **Bitch.** "

He was powerful. Abrasive, but powerful. When there was a problem to be faced, by himself or the other neighborhood kids - Bakugou faced it. From the front, with full force. Even without his quirk, Bakugou was an accomplished fighter, possessed of a battle instinct second to none. This instinct, this gut feeling that told him what to do, and when something was wrong - it had been screaming at Bakugou for several days now. Not because his hair had been slicked down and styled like some kind of limp-wristed weakling. Not because he hadn't fought anything or used his quirk since he'd been sent to train under Best Jeanist.

No, Bakugou's well-honed bestial instinct was telling him something was wrong because every day since the internships had begun - _that woman_ had been sneaking around his neighborhood. Having finally had enough, Bakugou now found himself, standing only a few feet from the redheaded westerner who'd recently begun to skulk about _that bastard's_ home.

The problem was -

"Do you mind? I'm doing important work here." Gwen Tennyson bit out through pursed lips from where she stood, hiding behind a telephone pole a few buildings away from the apartment Izuku Midoriya - bearer of the Omnitrix - lived with his Mother. She didn't even turn to face him when she spoke, simply turned her head enough that he could catch the edge of her annoyed glare before returning to her observation.

Bakugou's eye twitched at the blatant dismissal. He'd managed to go a whole day without ruining it. A whole day. If he could just hold on until tomorrow Best Jeanist might let him leave the headquarters. Or train him. Or let him fight something. _Or do anything but act like a god damn mannequin to be styled and lectured at._ Taking a deep shuddering breath Bakugou continued with his attempt at 'conversation'.

"Leave that bastards place be you god damn stalker." Every word was loud, impolite, and barely an inch away from evolving into Bakugou's customary howling yell. He wasn't doing this for Izuku. He was just protecting his turf. He had to make sure no punks came in thinking Katsuki Bakugou had gone soft. The fact that this woman was making the old ladies too scared to walk there dogs, and the parents too wary to let their kids out during the day had nothing to do with it.

The fact that she was clearly out to get Izuku _definitely_ had nothing to do with it.

He kept telling himself that, even as his eye twitched, and his foot shifted uncomfortably back and forth as he consciously restrained himself from dropping into his usual combat stance - crouch and ready to launch himself at his enemies.

Gwen whirled towards him now, eyebrows furrowed and a hot blush of embarrassment on her face, one hand reaching into a pocket on pants so fitted Bakugou had a hard time understanding how her hand even fit in them. His natural wariness kept his eyes glued to her hips long after she'd withdrawn the strange black and green badge from her pocket - to ensure she didn't draw a hidden weapon of course.

"I'm here on official Plumbers business so _back off_." she said slapping him in the chest with the circular object and gazing down her nose at him imperiously.

Shaking with rage, Bakugou grabbed the wrist of the hand she'd smacked him with, dragged it up into his field of vision so he could look at the badge. It looked eerily similar to the symbol on Izuku's device. The... _thing_ that gave him his quirk. Unfortunately for Gwen, Bakugou was not known for, or prone to, deep thought and deductive reasoning. All the pieces were there - Izuku said it had fallen from the sky, and there was clearly some kind of secret organization policing... something... to do with it.

But truthfully, Bakugou didn't really care.

He stared at the girl for a moment and said; "I have no idea what this is, or what 'Plumbers' you're talking about - but _this. IS MY. **NEIGHBORHOOD!**_ "

Bakugou's statement was punctuated by the sound of an explosion tearing through the air and he was momentarily confused. Less at the explosion itself - more because _he hadn't made it._ Shocked from the vehement beginnings of his usual raging tirade, Bakugou was surprised when Gwen whirled around and raised her arms in the air - producing a huge wall of pink energy in front of them with her quirk. At first, he assumed she was trying to trap him, but quickly corrected his assumption as the rasp of gunfire broke the sudden silence, and ripples in the pink energy began to denote the impact of bullets on the shield.

Peering past the redhead, Bakugou quickly took note of the three spherical metal objects hovering in the street. Each of them was the size of a small car, and they were adorned with a number of guns, and other devices that Bakugou assumed were for killing things. They hovered in place above craters in the ground matching them in size and were presently firing massive chain guns at the wall Gwen had put up.

Without thought, Bakugou stepped forward, the ignition for his quirk ever present and awaiting his will to activate. He grabbed Gwen around the waist and activated his quirk, launching both of them into the air on the heels of a practiced explosion that Bakugou could have replicated in his sleep.

"Are you _insane?_ " Gwen bellowed in disbelief at the blond moron who'd actively shifted her away from their protective shield.

"Shutup! You can fly right!?" Bakugou replied, touching down on top of a nearby stone wall, and promptly throwing Gwen forward as though he expected her to adjust and catch herself.

She did, but the fact that they were going to die because this idiot had physically thrown her from cover made her small display of skill feel somewhat underwhelming. Stumbling slightly as she created a platform in the air she was surprised when Bakugou blew up a huge portion of the wall he'd once been standing on while simultaneously using the force to rocket past her. Bullets sailed past, narrowly missing the moving target Bakugou presented through the concrete dust cloud his exit had created.

Gwen realized belatedly that stay in the air meant none of the gunfire would careen past them into someone's house. It was impressive and left Gwen reevaluating her opinion of the rash boy that she'd barely paid attention to prior to this. He was gruff, but he didn't seem so bad when he was -

" **Keep up you god damn stalker!"** Yelled Bakugou from his leading position, prompting Gwen to suddenly and succinctly kill any positive feelings she'd ever had for the boy.

Bakugou wasted no more time paying attention to Gwen, immediately rocketing across the neighborhood and pausing only when the machines seemed to lose track of him. His heart pumped and his adrenaline spiked as his body recognized the need to defend itself and began rapidly generating more of the nitroglycerine like sweat that was his quirk. His body began to heat up as muscles he hadn't been able to use in days saw a return to action and each time the enemies chasing him caught up he would leap toward momentary cover and then destroy it to provide a smokescreen for his escape. Every leap, every explosion, every action decisive and without hesitation. Bullets whipped through the air so close he could practically taste the burnt ozone left behind by their passing, but still, he persisted.

Eventually, Bakugou found himself skidding across the last leg of his journey, having reached a relatively clear area free of bystanders and residential buildings he came to a complete halt, crouched down, and waited. Gwen arrived shortly afterward, running a pathway of energy she created beneath herself as she moved, and holding a small dome of energy in place behind her with one hand. She gasped for air as she moved, unable to keep up with Bakugou - who's movement wasn't as reliant on his own muscles.

"Wha... what... is wrong... with you..." she wheezed as she touched down in the empty construction site Bakugou had been leading the machines too. Hardly any work had begun in the area, with only a portable office, a few pallets of concrete and several large bundles of rebar taking up position in the lot, which was otherwise surrounded by a 5-foot high concrete wall.

Bakugou ignored her. If asked by someone else, he would have said 'Because she's a bitch.' but in reality, he was simply being petty over their previous conversations lack of communication. Sighing with annoyance at him, Gwen accepted the situation for what it was and took up position next to Bakugou a bright pink glow suffusing her eyes and emanating from her fists as she prepared to lash out or defend with her quirk at a moments notice.

Then the drones came.

Each of them entered the lot through the single entrance, apparently not capable of rising any further off the ground than they already floated. The first to enter quickly slid to the side of the entrance and began laying down covering fire at Gwen and Bakugou. Bakugou didn't move an inch, he didn't flinch, he didn't say a word.

Gwen projected a thick screen of energy in front of them to soak up the gunfire, though it was clear it wouldn't hold for long. She glanced askance at Bakugou even as her focus was taxed by the oncoming force, that only grew worse as the other two drones arrived behind their partner.

"Well?!" she yelled at him and was disturbed when she realized how _happy_ her unwanted partner looked. He glanced up at her through his growing battle lust and merely smiled before barking at her.

" ** _Cover me!_** "

Then he was off, riding the blast wave of an explosion to their left with no head for whether Gwen could move her shield in time to stop him from becoming several pieces of Bakugou.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" she screeched in panic even as she sprinted after him and extended her shield in the direction he was moving. She almost didn't make it, and at this point, she wasn't sure if he genuinely _cared_ if he got shot or not.

Once Bakugou finally landed he immediately spun to his objective, hands up and forward - directly on one end of a bundle of rebar as nearly ten feet long. Then there was a brilliant flash of light and sound that left Gwen nearly too dazed to maintain her shield, and the bundle of rebar exploded. Several stray bars of the reinforced metal simply slid to the ground as the tension holding them in place disappeared, but the rest...

 ** _"DIE BASTARDS!"_**

The rest were launched as though from a machine gun. Dozens of heavy metal spears blasted across the relatively small enclosure of the construction site ripping apart one drone and leaving another without the use of its mounted gun.

 _ **"Oi Stalker, cover your damn mouth!"**_ Bakugou bellowed, before moving once more across the lot to the nearby skids of concrete just waiting to be exploited. Bakugou was hardly thinking anymore he was so lost in the battle. Every action, every response simply came to him. Some men can do complicated math in their heads. Others are born talented artists, with a discerning eye for the aesthetically pleasing.

Bakugou was born for _combat._ Not fighting, not dueling, not anything to do with safe, controlled spaces. Bakugou had the instincts of a born soldier. His mind was unperturbed by the chaos of battle, the uncertainty of what the enemy will do next, or the circumstances of his teammates. He took all those things in and responded to them as a matter of course with no lag time.

Which was why, when his hands came down on the concrete bags before him, Gwen was hardly surprised. He'd already done it a number of times before albeit to a lesser degree, but now the construction site was absolutely covered in billowing clouds of concrete dust. She couldn't see more than two feet in front of her face, and could only just barely make out the outline of the remaining two drones in the mess. Seeing Bakugou immediately sprinting at the one on their right, completely eschewing the use of his quirk to move for the first time, she dimmed the glow of her own quirk and began quickly sneaking around the drone on her left - the undamaged one she realized.

After that, the battle was almost so one-sided it would have been brutal had they been facing living combatants. The obscuring screen of concrete cleared to reveal an ecstatic Bakugou grinning like a madman and heaving great gasps of air. He'd opted to skip the lung cancer and simply hold his breath until the concrete was clear. Gwen faired much the same, though she took to her Victory with much more grace - even if it was dimmed some by the thin layer of concrete mixing with her makeup and sweat to create a visage that was far from becoming.

Bakugou was almost disappointed when the battle was over. So disappointed that he nearly forgot why he was even out here in the first place until Gwen walked wearily over to him.

"See? I'm not stalking anyone. I was just looking out for those things." she said, feeling vindicated.

"...They come for the watch thing right?" Bakugou asked, his battle lust sated enough that he began to remember Best Jeanists lectures on decorum and lower his voice to a few decibels short of a yell.

Gwen blinked at him in surprise for a few moments before saying; "Yeah, the Omnitrix. We've been protecting that kid's house for a while now. I guess if your around though I wouldn't have to..." Gwen looked at Bakugou contemplatively before seeming to come to a decision and reaching down to her waist again to once more bring out the badge she had denoted as belonging to the 'Plumbers'.

"Here. As long as you have this you shouldn't have any trouble with cops after you deal with stuff like... like this I guess." Gwen said, wincing as she took in the all the damage they had caused to the lot while fighting.

Bakugou eyed the badge for a few moments before snorting and swatting Gwen's hand away.

"Sounds suspicious. Keep it." he grumbled at her before turning away. Gwen stared at his retreating back like she had just encountered a space-time anomaly. Everything she'd come to understand about Bakugou said he would revel in the chance to legally make use of his quirk to fight. She barely knew him and even _she_ could tell he was unhappy and depressed when he couldn't use his quirk at will. Then she remembered where he went to school and yelled after him.

"You'll be back you Wanna Be Hero!" she hissed after him, trying to infuse every word with venom and spite. It wasn't exactly hard.

Bakugou stopped in his tracks, yelling back without turning around; "Go back to fixing toilets 'Plumber'!"

Even as the two separated there was really only one thought on their minds,

 _'Next time Bitch/Bastard'  
_

* * *

 **I wanted to highlight that Bakugou, for all his gruffness, is still actually pretty heroic at heart. I mean, yeah I hated him for most of the anime but when whats going on _matters_ Bakugou always pulls through. I also definitely wanna get across the point that Bakugou's loss in this fics version of the tournament shouldn't lead any of you to believe that he's somehow weaker in this universe than in canon - he's not. The Omnitrix is busted, and Taydenite is bullshit.**

 **Next chapter? The Hero Killer. Look forward to it.**


	25. The Battle of Hosu City (Part 1)

High above the earth, beyond the clouds and the atmosphere, a behemoth of a starship hung in space. From the planets surface the ship would be nothing but a vast expanse of blinking lights - easily mistakable for a passing satellite.

But the master of the Chimerian Hammer was no fool. Vilgax sat menacingly in his command chair, wreathed in medical tubing and cybernetics designed to speed his healing and allow him to take to the field once more. The Chimerian Hammer drifted along gently in its orbit around the moon, using only the bare minimum power necessary to keep the ship hidden in the celestial bodies dark side.

Drones zipped back and forth on the ship's bridge, affecting any repairs possible with the few materials on hand. Vilgax paid them no mind, gritting his teeth in frustration as his most recent attempt on the Omnitrix was put down by Two. Human. Children. His massive right hand scrabbled across the metal of his control panel in a show of impotent rage. Vilgax would never allow himself to damage his precious warship in a silly fit of pique. No, instead he crooked a single clawed finger at the nearest drone and - the moment it came within reach, his arm shot up towards it.

His muscular arm leisurely began to slowly crumble the metal skull of the drone, which did not attempt to fight back or defend itself. It was the only release the immobile Vilgax could find for his rage having already scraped off the superficial plating nearest his arm. Any more would damage the actual machinery of his precious ship. Vilgax found this intolerable and so chose to destroy one of his many, many, minions instead.

 _ **"PSYPHON!"**_ He bellowed without bothering to see if one of his few living minions was present.

"Have that _creature_ you have been working on ready to drop on the planet. I tire of _subtlety."_

Vilgax was not often known for his patience or his mercy, but he was not _stupid._ He would not punish someone for something that was not their fault. As much as Psyphon had distracted himself studying what he had identified as one of the Earth's apex predators - he was not to blame for the drones failure. Still, Vilgax's sheer _outrage_ at said failures must have shown through in his tone.

Or the still twitching husk of the robot servitor still dangling from his outstretched arm.

Psyphon immediately blanched, in so far as that was possible for an already pale grey skinned being, and he began nodding vigorously.

"Y-Yes Lord Vilgax! Would you like me to route the controls to your console?"

Vilgax had to take a moment to stymie the oncoming sigh of disappointment he felt at Psyphons fear. Oh yes, he was the conqueror of over ten worlds. He was a true warrior among warriors. But he had never betrayed those genuinely loyal to him. Still. Direct control of the battle...

Psyphon couldn't tell if it was a smile or a scowl. His master's squid-like visage made reading his expressions somewhat... Difficult.

But finally, Vilgax spoke, hissing the words in a half growl; _**"Yessss."**_

 _ **...**_

Izuku was kind of embarrassed. He was presently on a train heading towards Shibuya. That, in and of itself, was not embarrassing. Izuku was a shy boy by nature, but he was still a Japanese citizen - so there was no way the simple act of riding a bullet train would be a trial for him. What _did_ disturb him though, were the stares. When Gran Torino had told Izuku that today, they would be going to Shibuya so he could fight regular villains he had been bewildered - and not a little bit distressed.

But Gran Torino had listened to all of Izuku's worries, his distress and then kindly pointed out that he was an idiot.

 _'I know you haven't had the best experience with fighting villains, but come on kid, do you think every mook is as strong as that Nomu guy?'_

Izuku had merely stared mouth agape at his elderly mentor. Not at the rebuttal, but at how obvious that fact should have been. Intellectually, he knew that if every villain were on the same level as Nomu, then the country would have fallen into an apocalyptic wasteland by now. But until now, he had merely been laboring under the belief that _every_ villain he fought would be the type of undefeatable warrior that could give even All Might trouble.

The Hero 'Deku 10' had spent the last few days handling crime all across Gran Torino's home city. But a 'Villain' and a 'Criminal' were different. Petty criminals rarely had powerful quirks. Or training. Or even really the drive to hurt anybody. But a Villain. A _real_ villain was the counterpart to the licensed hero. They usually had extremely dangerous quirks, devious goals, and worst of all _a plan._ Even an utterly mundane Villain could be a terror when they knew what they were doing.

"Um 'scuse me, but you're that guy from the sports festival right?"

Izuku blinked a couple of times and looked around for a moment before his eyes settled on the little boy that had escaped his mother to stand in front of his seat on the sparsely crowded bullet train. He had short cut black hair and a pair of blue shorts that were nearly covered by a positively oversized baseball jersey for some sports team that Izuku had never heard of.

Not that Izuku knew _anything_ about sports. There were some sports themed Hero's maybe. Probably.

 _'Right. Costumes on the train.'_ Izuku inwardly groaned, having been suddenly reminded of why he was so out of sorts on this train ride. Gran Torino had insisted that they make the trip in costume instead of changing at their destination. He would have put his head in his hands just to hide his face, but it would be rude to ignore the child who'd spoken to him.

"Yep!" He put on his most genial smile and nervously answered. He'd even managed not to stutter this time - which was an improvement for Izuku.

The boy, whose mother was approaching them at a speed that Izuku recognized as the prelude to an ass whooping, broke out into a big toothy grin when Izuku spoke, completely ignoring his mothers calls for him to return.

Then he started singing, and Present Mic's face flashed through Izuku's mind - mostly because he was pretty sure he could successfully get away with ki-

"He's slimy freaky fast and strong! He's every shape and size! He's-" The kid paused to look expectantly at Izuku, and he belatedly realized no one knew his Hero name yet.

"Deku... Ten?" Izuku said, and it was all he could do not to let his expression show how utterly embarrassing it was to have a child sing you an ad-hoc theme song of yourself _on the train_. He thought he'd managed to keep his expression under control for a moment, but knew he had failed when Gran Torino began physically shaking while trying to restrain his laughter.

The kid frowned for a second, seeming to mull the name over for a second before disappointedly saying; "I don't think it rhymes well."

Izuku was about to reply when all hell broke loose.

There was a horrendous screeching noise, and the wall of the train opposite to Izuku exploded open, sending small shards of glass skittering across the floor. Without thinking, Izuku immediately grabbed the child in front of him spinning around to put himself between the boy and the hole in the still moving train. It was clear from the screech of the rails beneath them that the conductor had already begun to slow the train down - but the whistling of the wind as it passed the gaping hole did not instill in Izuku great confidence.

More to the point, standing in the middle of the hole, already moving towards him as though it was on a mission, was something that Izuku still saw in his nightmares. It was a little different than in his memory. But the similarities far outweighed those differences. It was tall, Inhumanly so, having to hunch over and almost double itself in half to fit inside the confines of the train. Long gangly arms laced with corded muscle stretched from the creature's sides, its pure white skin stretched across it in a sick imitation of an ordinary man's movements. And its brain, which was wreathed by four, painfully staring eyes - was completely exposed.

"Nomu..." Izuku whispered, his voice hoarse and his body froze as the primal fear of death gripped it.

Gran Torino barely glanced at Izuku before moving, trusting his student implicitly - he took a deep breath, and the rocketed out of his seat in a should tackle that would have killed an ordinary man his age. Both he and the Villain that had broken into the train blurred through the city skyline faster than Izuku had ever seen the old Hero movie disappearing into the depths of the city with a barely audible thump.

Several moments later the train finally came to a complete stop, and Izuku was treated to his first unimpeded view of the City of Hosu.

And it was burning.

People on the train were running back and forth now, the child he'd been shielding was quickly snatched up by his mother as someone in a uniform began to ask Izuku if he was alright while gently trying to tug him away from the gaping hole in the train's frame. His mind quickly started to pick up speed as the gravity of the situation continued to dawn on him. Explosions rattled in the distance, adding to the red glow of the city. He started to hear people yelling all around him. All of the noise began to fade away as Izuku examined what he knew.

A Nomu was in the city. A being capable of fighting even All Might, diminished though he was.

Something else - almost definitely something related to Nomu's enigmatic master, was happening in the city.

Finally, perhaps most importantly to Izuku - Hosu was the city Iida was interning in.

It was also the city his brother worked in. Or he used to.

Izuku's classmates had been less than forthcoming about Iida's situation when it had finally come to his attention that his high strung friend was somewhat out of sorts. In Mineta's words, something that, for once the entire class agreed with; "Bro, You're just gonna get yourself worked up for nothing. Don't sweat it."

Unfortunately for them, Izuku spent a relatively significant portion of his time as Grey Matter browsing the internet, and more specifically, the news. He hadn't said anything about it, but it hadn't been hard to find out that Iida's brother - the Hero Ingenium - had been incapacitated by a man known mostly as 'The Hero Killer - Stain' When he had dug a little deeper, ( Re:illegally hacked the hospital's files) he had found that 'incapacitated' was a vast understatement of Ingeniums condition.

Iida's choice of Hosu city as his location to intern wasn't that much of a surprise once he had the full picture, but the immediate consequences were that if the city was under attack, his classmate was probably as close to the danger as was possible. And if that danger was another Nomu - then Izuku had to get moving and fast.

The minute he'd decided to move, the Omnitrix flashed, and small blue scales erupted over his normal skin, His body thinned to become more aerodynamic, and a tail shot out of his spine behind him. Izuku immediately _felt_ faster. Or rather, like everything around him was suddenly moving slower. The perfect black spheres of some material unknown to Izuku felt cold on the bottoms of his now two-toed feet.

 _"XLR8!"_

He said in a shrill screech that was barely understandable to the other passengers. And then he was gone, sprinting out the hole in the train, across the outside of the train to a place where the tracks were held up by a pillar, and then down into the city.

Izuku moved through the streets of Hosu with serene grace. As much as he knew he was running at high speed, it didn't feel like it was placing a burden on his body. In fact, Izuku was sure that there was more to his speed than pure muscular power. It almost felt as though time itself was dilating around him.

This dilation was something he used to significant effect as he traversed Hosu. XLR8 zipped into burning buildings and other dangerous situations with casual ease. Many of the people he pulled from these situations had no idea what had happened or who had saved them, as Izuku had no time to wait for them. Often the only sign that he had passed was an arrow scraped into the ground indicating which way to go to avoid more danger.

And there was _certainly_ a lot of danger. Izuku had no idea where he was going, having never been to Hosu before and having only the vague sound of explosions in the distance to navigate by. As he ran through the city, stopping each time he felt he could help, slowly a picture began to form of what had happened. Across the city, there were three clear paths of destruction originating from one point and then separating to wreak havoc across a wide area. Had Izuku followed one of these arcs of destruction it's likely he would have arrived at his destination nearly instantly - but it would also mean that he would have to ignore all the innocents affected by the struggle.

Clicking his tongue in frustration at how long everything felt like it took him, Izuku continued to charge through the rubble of the city.

High in the sky, the unique energy signature of the Omnitrix was seen activating - and from behind the moon, a small dropship launched, punching through the atmosphere as though a comet on fire.

 **...**

When Izuku finally found the frontline of the battle he stopped moving for the first time since he had transformed. Hero's of every shape and size, colour and creed struggled around him. Nearly every hero in the city was present, launching attack after attack at two fast-moving targets. And in truth, they were barely holding on, because both enemies were Nomu's.

One was slightly greater than normal size, bearing an olive green skin tone and two pterodactyl-like wings instead of human arms. This one swooped from on high, using ludicrous speed and strength to harass and ambush less mobile Hero's as they tried to deal with its compatriot.

The other was more in line with what Izuku had come to consider the 'first' Nomu. It was huge and had skin as black as the night sky. Thick muscle rippled across its body as it moved, leaping and striking at the nearby Hero's with wanton abandon.

Izuku stared at the melee in sheer terror at this confirmation of his suspicions. If Nomu was an experiment then having maybe one other on hand was likely. This many? This many of the monsters hinted at something much more sinister.

"What are these Monsters made of!?"

"They got The Fly!"

"WHERES IIDA?!"

Izuku's attention immediately snapped to the last speaker. Manual, the Normal Hero, was an odd case for Izuku. Despite being reasonably powerful, with a very versatile quirk, the media and even Manual's agency billed him as being exceptionally _average_. Manual's head was whipping left and right as he skirted the edges of the battle, apparently distressed by something. Smoke had stained his simple blue and white tights.

That was all it took for Izuku understand the situation. There wasn't anything Izuku could think of that would drag the straight-laced Iida away from such an obvious crisis.

With a newfound jolt of fear, XLR8 tore up the road that Manual had been running down, no longer attempting to restrict his speed as he searched every alley and alcove along the way. The concrete cracked, and any undamaged windows began to shatter at his passing, each successive failure spurring him to move faster and faster.

Finally, Izuku turned a corner and them. _Them_ being the operative word because there were three people in the alley. On the ground to one side of the narrow space was a Hero Izuku didn't recognize dressed in Native American attire. Slightly further down the alley - was Iida. He was wearing his costume and was firmly pressed into the ground by a man Izuku didn't recognize - but knew by reputation regardless. The Hero Killer, stood menacingly over Iida, his clothes a mish-mash of tactical gear and belts that were covered in sheathes for a variety of slashing and stabbing implements. His upper face was covered by a tightly wrapped set of bandages that did nothing to hide what appeared to be the man's lack of a nose. He had a tattered red scarf that seemed to flow about him as if it were alive.

But most notably, was the chipped katana hanging over Iida's prone form like a guillotine.

XLR8 slammed into the villain with a shoulder tackle tailored to send him as far down the Alley as he could. With alarming speed, Stain seemed to shift his body in the air to land safely at the end of the alley. The man immediately moved to a defensive stance, placing his katana in front of him menacingly.

 _"Iida!Canyoumove?Canyougogethelp?"_ Izuku turned his head slightly to look at Iida, now behind him before he spoke, having to force himself to calm down and say the words slowly enough that a human could understand them.

Iida stared dumbfounded up at his saviour before recognizing the black and green symbol on XLR8's chest and scowling.

"I can't move...!" he growled into the ground beneath him, not even able to take his face entirely off the ground.

 _"Isthathisquirk?Thenewssaidsomethingabout-"_ Izuku began but was cut off as Iida continued speaking.

"Don't... Interfere! This has nothing to do with you!"

Izuku's face fell as he looked at Iida dumbfounded. Stain gazed on with amusement at the pair as they argued, clear disdain on his face as he looked down at Iida.

"A Friend shows up and says 'I'm here to save you' and thats all you have to say huh?" Stain said, his eyes flickering towards the other Hero on the ground behind Izuku, and then back to XLR8 a hint of approval in his tone as he continued.

"You prioritized saving them over fighting me, and you said some good stuff when you arrived."

He flicked his sword to the side and prepared for an attack. His gaze intently focused on Izuku now.

"Your worth leaving alive. But its my _duty_ to kill these other two. So if we're forced to fight, the **weaker** of us will be **culled**."

 **"I concur."** A new voice seemed to echo around them, confusing both Izuku and Stain as they squared off against one another. The sheer sound of it was terrifying in a way he couldn't ever explain or replicate. For the first time as XLR8 he felt his pulse quicken.

"Who-!" Stain was cut off as the alley wall nearest him exploded outwards sending brick and mortar flying across the area. A tremendous form flew through the new hole so fast that even to Izuku and his enhanced speed it was a surprise.

Stain had even less chance to react, as tree trunk thick arms covered in deep read metal plating slammed into him, pushing him through the wall on the opposite side of the alley from the first hole and causing him to disappear from sight.

Then the rest of the creature came through the hole. It was a Nomu. Not _a_ Nomu, but _the_ Nomu. Where before the creature clearly fought and moved with the thoughtless abandon of an enraged animal, now it sauntered into the alleyway as though a king surveying his lands. Metal armor of some material Izuku couldn't begin to recognize surrounded most of Nomu's body, and an array of guns and weapons fit for an army jutted out from the his shoulders, giving the monster a more bulky appearance than Izuku remembered.

 **"Now, I believe you have something that belongs to me."** a voice sounded out from somewhere on Nomu's body as though it was being played over a loud speaker.

 **"Give. Me. The. Omnitrix."**

Izuku did something he hadn't done since first receiving the Omnitrix. Something he had promised himself he would never do again. He reached down to grab Iida, and then ran away, grabbing the other wounded Hero on his way out of the alley.


	26. The Battle of Hosu City (Part 2)

Fueled by fear and the knowledge that there was no way he could ever fight that _monster,_ XLR8 fled through the streets of Hosu. At first, Izuku had attempted to use the evacuated buildings of the city to hide from Nomu in his flight. He reasoned that for all Nomu was capable of bursts of speed because of its high strength, it couldn't maneuver very well, and certainly wouldn't be able to catch XLR8 while moving slow enough to turn.

 **"STAND AND FACE ME** _ **BOY!"**_

The menacing voice of Vilgax rang out behind him. It was accompanied by the cacophonous roar of munitions being fired, and much to Izuku's horror the buildings between him and his pursuer simply began to disintegrate. The weapons and armaments on Nomu's shoulders blazed with light as beams of energy tore apart any intervening obstacles.

 _'Crap! I can't lead him back to the Pro's this way - he'll just kill them trying to get to me!'_

Izuku's mind fumbled for an answer to his present problem, the idea of confronting the much improved Nomu never once occurring to him. He had a good lead on the monster now - but he knew he couldn't run forever, not while carrying Iida and this unknown Hero with him. He'd grow tired or time out long before he escaped.

As Izuku thought, he began to feel Iida struggling in his grasp, and with his renewed attention to his passenger, he realized Iida was speaking - albeit so slowly it pained Izuku to puzzle out what he was saying.

"Midoriya! Let me down! I have to go back! He's still back there! If it's like this, we can get him!" he all but begged.

Izuku grimaced with XLR8's serpentine face. He felt for Iida, and he knew what it must be like to see your idols begin to flag and falter - but he was clearly beyond rational thought.

"Wecan't ." Izuku said off-handedly as he continued to navigate the war-torn city. He was forced to slide past a blast of energy that came entirely too close to him before swerving around a building and doubling back in the hopes of losing his pursuer.

He felt Iida tense under his arm, and the more rational side of his mind noted that the large boy's bulky armor and general uncooperativeness were making escape nearly impossible.

Then, as if the possibility was summoned by that idle thought, the engines in Iidas legs began to roar, exhaust fuming out from the protrusions on his legs.

"You should put me down Midoriya." Iida said in a flat, grim tone that brooked no argument.

"Ican'tjust-"

Izuku was unable to finish his rebuttal for the enraged Iida, whose engines exploded to life, sending the awkwardly held larger boy spiralling into the rubble behind them.

Iida quickly righted himself, and rushed off at an angle perpendicular to Izuku, allowing him to easily step out of the path of Nomu's rampage towards Izuku. Izuku nearly wasn't so lucky, the imbalance causing him to lose his footing and nearly suffer the effects of a missile that had only just begun to approach before he managed to regain his balance and swerve around the explosive. His tail lashed out to slap the missile into the ground as he moved and a few seconds later Izuku was back on the move. While Izuku was greatful for it, he found XLR8's reaponse to stress almost harder to think past than normal, **human** panic. He'd expect his heart to be jackhammering, nervous sweat pouring down his back. Instead XLR8 just, tuned his surroundings out to go faster.

 _'Probably a better survival strategy than screaming and running in circles'_ Izuku though dryly.

That was when Izuku noticed it. The storm of weapons fire had miraculously stopped.

Finally able to do so, he quickly checked the native themed Hero he had rescued. Finding him stable Izuku - feeling his time as XLR8 was probably waning - hid the unconscious man inside a still standing flower shop, and then took off in the direction he'd seen Iida move in last.

 _'He's only after me, so I should be able to lead him away from anyone else!'_

As Izuku whipped back through the streets of Hosu unmolested, a sense of dread began to gather in his chest. Nomu, or whoever was controlling him, shouldn't have given up so easily without a fight. So why had he stopped attacking? Izuku had a feeling he knew why, and his fears were confirmed as he rounded a corner to find Nomu, standing stock still with its head turned at a painful, nearly owlish angle to glare with a single bloodshot eye after the white-clad figure of Iida running into the distance.

Izuku watched with sickening slowness as the weapons emplacements on Nomu's shoulders began to turn. Creeping ever so gently towards Iida.

Originally, Izuku had wanted to run until more Hero's had arrived in Hosu, or at the very least, until Gran Torino had come to find him. But as Izuku stared past his aggressor to Iida, he knew that was no longer possible.

Like a bolt of blue lightning Izuku shot forward, rebounding off the armored and quirk reinforced hide of Nomu like an errant ping pong ball. As he flew away he scrabbled for purchase on the rubble strewn ground, immediately throwing himself back at Nomu in a flurry of blows. Each time he was launched away by the force of his own momentum, he pressed the attack, whirling around his enemy in a blur.

The attacks were largely ineffective, but they served their purpose. Nomu's head swiveled on its neck to look down at him and _that voice_ laughed at him from the depths of the matte red armor.

 **"This...This is the pitiful creature that has claimed my prize? Hahaha!"**

Vilgax's laughter was monstrous, somehow being so alien that Izuku immediately ran backwards in an attempt to put distance between himself and that terrible sound. He looked down at his own hands and then back up at Nomu. He saw Iida well in the distance still struggling through the debris to return to where Stain had fallen.

And then he ran away again. Izuku poured on the speed, no long carrying passengers, no longer worried about collateral damage to a wartorn city. When Izuku was nearly a mile away - he turned around, and pressed every ounce of his being, every fiber of what it was to be Izuku Midoriya into his next move. Pavement cracked, and glass windows imploded at his passing as he broke the sound barrier and then kept speeding up. When finally he recognized the area nearest to Nomu, he did something no one reasonable, or even bearing a normal survival instinct would attempt.

He leaped into the air, allowing his momentum to carry him foward. He tucked his chin into his chest and made himself as small as possible. Then he deactivated the omnitrix.

Time snapped back to its normal speed around Izuku, and he became intimately aware of how fast he was moving as petty physical limitations like air resistance regained their dominance over him.

His hands, shielded in his center pushed towards each other. The entirety of his training activating the Omnitrix at speed flashes before his eyes, and he rembered the fastest quick draw on the planet was clocked in at .208 seconds.

He'd never expected to reach such speeds, but the mental picture of his body painted across the next three blocks as he slammed into an almost immoveable object was _excellent_ motivation.

He dared to glance up and into his peripheral vision only to be met with the horrific sight of Nomu rearing back to strike at him - and Izuku knew in that moment that he wasnt going to make it.

Then _time_ stopped. Not slowed, not dilated, _stopped._ Izuku was stuck, in the moment before his inevitable death and for a moment he wondered if he'd managed to change into some form he'd never seen before. It was possible, he'd accumulated quite alot of them.

Movement in his peripheral vision though drew him out of his thoughts, and he began to see figures moving in the shredded alley to his right. Shadowy beings he felt he could ALMOST recognize, if only he could turn his head just the littlest bit. They arranged themselves to gaze down at him. And then he felt it. A single heartbeat in that frozen moment where even the blood in his body seemed not to flow. Then another, and another. Power flooded his body, and an electric tingle penetrated his muscles that was quickly followed by an almost unbearable pain.

Then time resumed, and the broken remains of his hand crashed into the dial of the Omnitrix.

Vilgax was almost blinded by the light of the Omnitrix, the devices that had been suegically placed in Nomu to allow his control not adjusting fasr enough to the outburat of energy. And then something huge and round crashed into him, a jolt through his command chair signifying for the first time that his Nomu had been _hurt_. When his vision returned he was almost amazed to see the highly resistant form of Nomu flying away from where it had been standing at an alarming rate. In the distance he could see the rapidly shrinking form of Izuku Midoriya now an Arburian Pelarota, standing proud where Nomu had once been.

His body was a soft white, with black and yellow armored plates wreathing it and protecting it from harm.

And for just the briefest of moments, Vilgax could swear he saw somethinf else to. He could swear he saw a faint green energy crackle along its body - which was not at all something an Arburian could do.

 **"Cannonbolt."** mumbled Izuku as he saw Nomu flying into the distance. He doubted that was going to be the last he saw of the monster, but he had greater concerns.

Slowly, and with a pained tingle in his arm that he hoped would go away when he changed back into a human, he trundled off to find Iida.

No longer possessing super speed, it took nearly fifteen minutes for Izuku to make his way to the dark alley Stain had been so unceremoniously left in.

He found Iida standing over an unconscious Stain, the fabled Hero Killer completely at his mercy.

Iida watched the villain as he lay on the ground. He was bleeding out, clearly wounded by his single brief encounter with Nomu's overwhelming strength.

"If I just leave him, he'll likely die."

Iida didn't look away from the villain as Izuku approached. He merely whispered those words in a strained voice, as though trying to come to a decision.

It wasnt really a decision at all to Izuku, who immediately slammed the Omnitrix symbol on his chest. When his human form continued to walk towards the unconscious villain, Iida looked up agast at him.

Izuku's right arm hung limply next to him, barely recognizeable under the immense purple bruise that had covered it in its entirety.

"Midoriya! Your arm!" gasped Iida.

Izuku would have liked to comfort his classmate, but he was pretty sure if he opened his mouth it would probably just be to scream until he mercifully blacked out. So instead, he shakily began pulling first aid supplies from his belt, all the while biting his lip so hard it had begun to bleed.

Iida stared at Izuku as though he'd grown a second head for a moment, before sighing and gently taking the bandages from Izuku.

Izuku felt some tension leave him as his reliable ass president took over treating Stain. He stumbled over to a wall and slumped down to the ground while he watched Iida work.

Izuku's consciousness began to drift, and his eyelids began to feel heavy. Iida seemed to be crying while he worked, looking up at Izuku periodically as though to assure himself that he was still there.

"You really are..."

Was the last thing he heard, before he faded from consciousness.

Stain felt like shit.

He felt really and truly horrendous. He felt like his entire body should be in a cast, and was positive the 'Heroes' were withholding healing or at the very least _painkillers_ out of spite for his successes.

Thinking about it, it could be worse. He got to meet that kid with the motor legs - what was his name? Ingeniums brother. He didnt get murdered in his sleep, so maybe the kid had straightened out and stepped on the path of a true hero.

Or maybe he was dead. Remembering the monster that had taken him out in the first place, he wouldnt find it surprising. He hoped the other kid was ok. THAT one had potential. He could feel it, faintly as they clashed. The presence, the sensation that he was near greatness.

There was a click as the door opened and he looked up from his reveree, unable to leave the hospital bed he was handcuffed to. The soft beep of monitoring equipment was all he could hear as a man, a caucasian dressed in a crisp suit and a smartly done bowtie, took a seat next to his bed.

"I'm here to offer you a -"

"No."

Stain cut him off and let the oppressive silence of the room return to reinforce his point. He didnt want a plea bargain. He didnt want to 'make a deal'. He would not go back on his beliefs. He would not deny, decry, or apologize for what he had done - because it had been neccesary.

After a moment the man in the suit seemed to change tactics.

"Do you know how many human beings you have killed?"

"Over -"

"None."

Glazing over the man interrupting him, Stain had to stop and stare at that. It occurred to him he might be talking to one of those insane terrorist types that thought people with quirks werent 'people' anymore. A notion even _he_ found disgusting.

He stared blankly at the man for a moment, waiting for an explanation.

Seeing the expectation in Stains eyes, the man reached down and lifted a suitcase onto the bed. It clicked open and the man pulled a number of pictures out of it. Pictures of people Stain recognized. Pictures of people he'd killed.

The man pointed at one.

"Do you recognize this man?" he asked with a certain glee that bespoke a need to impress.

"Firestar, the Blazing Hero."

"Yes. Also a Pyronite citizen of Pyros. An Alien."

"Assuming I believe that. Which I don't. Who the hell are you and how'd someone so crazy get in here without a cop to supervise."

Stain was beginning to get the feeling he was trapped in a room with an unstable person. Not a good position to be in while in traction.

With a glance around, the suited man turned an almost fanatical smile on Stain.

"I assure you 'Hero Killer'. You are in no danger from me. If you'll allow me, I can prove it to."

He paused to flick away some dust that had settled on his suit.

"You see, my organization has recently decided it was time to revive our sister organization here in Japan. Obviously their are no more Samurai in this country, but your dedication to your cause speaks well of you."

"...and what organization would that be."

The mans smile grew wider and he withdrew a long syringe filled with green liquid from his briefcase, ramming it brutally into Stains chest and depressing the plunger.

"I'll explain more when we leave Mr.Stain. Suffice to say that my organization has existed nearly _forever."_

In another part of Japan, two travelers disembarked from their plane, both slinging heavy dufflebags over their shoulders.

Both were teenagers, but that was where the similarities ended. One was tall, and possessed blue fur in varying shades all across his body. Each stel he took was made with a sort of unconscious grace.

The other was somewhat shorter than the first, and possessed a mop of poorly kept brown hair. He wore a bright green jacket with a white ten emblazoned on the front.

"Hey Rook?"

"Yes, Ben?"

"You think they have chili dogs in Japan?"

"No, Ben."


	27. Aftermath

"What were you _thinking?_ Do you realize how _bad_ this looks? This could end your whole career! If Stain testifies that you attacked him during a city wide crisis that he didn't even cause your _done_ Iida!" Ingenium cursed at his brother from his hospital bed next to Izuku.

"But you-" Iida stammered, clearly unused to such harsh treatment from the brother he idolized. He was sitting in a nearby chair, between Izuku's bed and Ingeniums. It hadn't taken all that long for the influential Hero family to pull some strings and have Izuku moved to the same hospital as their eldest son. Not after Iida had explained the entire situation leading up to Izuku's injury anyway. When his parents had first arrived in the room, Iida had come to attention and reported what had happened with exacting detail and poise, like a soldier rattling off a mission report. Izuku would have found it quite hilarious if his broken arm wasn't in so much pain during the transition between rooms.

Broken however, might be a bit of a misnomer. Izuku's arm had not been 'broken'. It was much more accurate to describe it as 'pulped'. Almost _all_ of Izuku's bones had suffered some kind of minor fracture or damage, the same also being true for his muscles. His arm however, had suffered the worst of it. Apparently, fighting against enough g-forces to kill an unconditioned man in order to activate the Omnitrix had been, to quote to Doctor;

 _"Ludicrous. Ludicrously dangerous. Ludicrously difficult. Ludicrously stupid. You, young man, are a Lunatic."_

Izuku would feel worse about the entire ordeal if he wasn't positive that no one capable of dealing with the Mecha-Nomu as he had decided to dub it, would arrive on the scene in time to help. Truthfully, even knowing that he had been reasonably certain that he was going to die yesterday. He'd come far but not 'fight an All Might killing machine' far.

"And then! and then! You drag your poor classmate - who just happens to be passing by - into the career ending clusterfuck you thought was a good idea!" Ingenium continued, berating his younger brother using the kind of belligerent and hurtful language that no parent would ever use on a child just past a traumatic event. There was a certain privilege, a thickening of the skin, that came with being siblings with someone. Izuku wasn't quite sure because he had no siblings of his own, but if he had to compare, he would describe the rudeness Ingenium was showing to Iida as being fairly close to his own usual realtionship with Bakugou.

Caustic but tolerable basically.

Through it all Iida just sat, ramrod straight, occasionally using pauses in the rambling tirade to turn and make sure that Izuku was comfortable. He wasn't of course. He was actually positive that being comfortable was impossible for someone in a cast from the neck down, and was further positive that no one with a healing quirk like Recovery Girl had arrived to help him because someone wanted to punish him. Gran Torino's grinning face flashed in Izuku's minds eye for a moment and he had to resist the urge to roll his eyes, tuning out Ingenium and Iida. They'd started repeating themselves after a while, so Izuku had long since stopped being worried about it.

"What could you possibly-!" Ingenium said, his mouth clicking shut woodenly when the door to the room flew open and spat out three men. Gran Torino, A rotund old man in a Hawaiian shirt, and a detective wearing a long brown coat over a dress shirt and tie. They marched into the room as one, shutting and _locking_ the door behind them, then turned together to stare at Izuku and Iida, as though the two teens were particularly interesting looking bugs.

"...Boys, this is Naomasa Tsukauchi. He's a friend of mine, so I'd like it if you'd listen to him for a bit." Gran Torino said plainly, darting a look to Izuku that indicated that there was slightly more to the relation between the two simply being friends.

"Good afternoon. I've heard both of your testimonies and I have to say, you both seem very impressive." Tsukauchi started, a slight smile on his face. Then it abruptly shifted to a deep frown.

"However. What you two did could easily be misconstrued as Vigilanteism. I hope you can see why the police department might have a problem with that." He stated bluntly, eyes slitted.

"B-b-but!" Izuku stuttered, unable to fathom the current situation. Sure he had fought a bad guy but... it wasn't as if he had gone _looking_ for the guy. He had just been trying to find his friend! His intention was literally the _opposite_ of getting involved in a fight with a Villain!

"S-surely there is some mistake, at the very least Midoriya-" Iida started, stuttering at first but then firming his tone and facial expression as he continued. He darted a furtive glance at his green haired classmate then nodded once, opening his mouth to continue speaking, but was cut off.

" _Which is why._ " Tsukauchi barked with a scowl.

"Which is why, it didn't happen." He said, repeating himself.

"Wh- how?" Izuku asked carefully, dread gathering in the pit of his stomach. He should have been happy, knowing that somehow, someway, he was going to avoid that worst of fates. Avoid having his dreams ripped away and barred from him for life. But still, something about this situation just seemed... off. And who was the guy in the Hawaiian shirt? He felt like he'd seen him around the school a few times but he couldn't for the life of him remember _where_. The guy was just standing there, giving him this all forgiving grandfatherly look.

"Well. Your testimony would only be required in the case that we had to prosecute the villain Stain." Tsukauchi said knowingly.

"But... aren't you? I mean he hurt all those people." Izuku said with trepidation. He hoped - _hoped_ that he wasn't about to be given the choice of keeping his career or putting a criminal behind bars. He wasn't sure what he would do if he was. Stain _needed_ to be stopped. He wasn't happy with the idea, but if he had to give up his dreams to do so then-

"We most certainly would be. _If_ we could find him. Last night at eight thirty seven pm, the criminal known as the 'Hero Killer' vanished from the hospital he was being kept in." The detective admitted easily, shooting a glance towards Iida's brother who was listening to the conversation with rapt attention.

"He _escaped_!?" Iida cried out, fury quickly beginning to build in his eyes before his brother leaned over and placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

"How? He should have been too hurt to even move. Unless he could heal somehow. Maybe a blood based quirk? It would explain why he..." Izuku trailed off as every eye in the room turned towards him shocking him out of the early stages of one of his rambling sprees. He reddened, and shut his mouth, not wanting to ruin the seriousness of the situation with his foolishness.

"We don't know. No one went in, and no one came out. We were sure of that. But when the nurse went to change his IV he just wasn't there." Tsukauchi stated with some sorrow evident in his voice. Under his breath he muttered;

"It's a pity, we would have covered for you if he hadn't gotten away..."

"What?" Izuku asked in mild disbelief.

"Nothing. Anyway, neither of you will be going to court over this. _However_. We have taken note of you. If you get caught a second time we won't - _can't_ \- be this lenient. The public needs to know now more than ever that we have control over people with powerful quirks. The last thing we need is for the idea that street justice will work to catch on.

"Now, we won't be holding you accountable for the Nomu you claim to have fought - they were reclassified as a natural disaster so we could circumvent all the criminal cases of people merely defending themselves from the things yesterday - but I have to repeat. _Never again._ " The detective stated, eyes shifting back and forth meaningfully between Izuku and Iida.

Izuku was left speechless. He had gotten lucky. He had gotten _so_ lucky. Not just with this but with... everything. Finding and saving Iida? Luck. Getting away from Nomu? Luck. Stopping Iida from doing something he would regret? Luck. Evading prosecution? Again, _luck_. This just... it couldn't continue. He had to be better. He had to _do_ better. Unbidden, brutal training regimes and grueling tactical excercises began to flicker to life in his brain, a brain that had spent far too long as Gray Matter to ever quite function normally again. A brain that, even before he was a hero trainee, had been the best that ever existed at analyzing quirks.

"Ehem. So that's done. Izuku this is Max. It's not too urgent but I wanted you to meet him. I'll get you his number later but if something like **this** ever comes up again, I want you to call him. He's an expert on..." Gran Torino said, stopping mid sentence to pointedly flick his gaze between Izuku's eyes and the spot under his cast that contained the Omnitrix.

"Things of a bizarre nature. We have an agreement with him to pass things like that along." The swift old man said with a crotchety tone that contained a hint of fondness.

"Hi. Like this old codger said, you can call me Max. You know, I have a grandson about your age who's coming to town. You'd probably like him." The man in the Hawaiian shirt replied to the unasked question as Izuku turned his attention to him following Gran Torino's statement.

"Codger?! Were the same age you bastard!" Gran Torino choked out, whirling around to wave his cane at Max.

"Yeah, but I'm as spry as a man half my age while _you're_ the size of a garden gnome. I keep telling you that Taiyaki isn't nutritious enough to eat for every meal but you just don't listen." Max pointed out with a jovial chuckle.

"I don't wanna hear about food from you, you crazy American! I've seen the things you cook! _That_ _ain't_ _food!_ " Gran Torino shot back.

Izuku found the entire exchange extremely bizarre. Gran Torino was always a bit crotchety, he imagined that came with the territory of surviving the Hero game long enough to retire. But this was... just strange. Even at his most ornery Gran Torino was rarely so on the backfoot. He always had a come back, or a whitty repartee. And when he didn't he'd just smack you with that cane of his. This was... different. Izuku was shockingly reminded of two retired soldiers catching up after a long time. Two old souls who had seen much and took comfort in each others presence.

"Ah, well. That's all we came to say. Keep your noses clean boys." Detective Tsukauchi said with a rye grin on his face as he ushered the two older men out of the room.

The left as swiftly as they had entered, leaving behind a heavy silence that stretched for an eternity.

"...Midoriya." Iida spoke into the silence.

"Hmm?" Izuku answered absentmindedly, mind still full of the errant thoughts and ideas this most recent visitation had elicited.

"I don't believe I ever told you but... I'm sorry. For everything. And thank you." The taller blue haired boy said with a touch of formality, pushing his seat slightly back and standing to bow at the waist.

"I know there is nothing I can do to make up for the trouble I have caused. The... problems... my actions nearly created for the both of us. But I want you to know that should you ever require aid, you can call on me, and I will come running."

Izuku stared at Iida for a good ten seconds, half of his mind still somewhere else. He tried to shrug - and found it hurt too much to bother. So instead he just raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Iida, you don't have to apologize for anything. You're my friend - of course I would come help you." He said blithely, wanting this whole thing to be behind him so he could go train for the next inevitably terrible thing that was likely to happen. He was beginning to think that being All Might's successor might just come pre packaged with a curse of some kind. 'May you live in interesting times' as it were. But it's not like he held that against _Iida._ God knows he had done his fair share of objectively stupid things when his heart started pounding just a bit too hard.

"Midoriya...you...!" Iida said, rising from his bow with tears in his eyes.

"You... you are a _true_ friend!" Iida said passionately, sitting back down at Izuku's side and grasping his left hand through the cast with a tight grip that made him wince.

"Truly, I now understand what Mineta meant when he said that only through shared misadventure can two men find true companionship!" The large boy crowed, tears still streaming down his face. His brother, who had apparently been satisfied by what the detective had said, merely watched on with amusement, clearly used to his own brothers antics.

"I don't think -" Izuku began then shuddered as his finally honed instinct for danger sprung to life. The door to hospital room sprung open once more, forcing Izuku to wince even further and hope that Bakugou didn't visit him. He really didn't think those poor hinges could handle such an explosive entrance from him. With painful abruptness, a number of Izuku's classmates spilled into the room. Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, and Tsuyu rushed forth, quickly followed by almost the entirety of 1-A. Izuku had to give it them this - they were nothing if not ardent. Kirishima blustered into the room talking a mile a minute about how his training had been going, Mineta hung at the back of the ground, taking advantage of his diminutive size and positioning to ogle the women of the class as the rushed past him. Todoroki... loomed. Izuku couldn't quite find a better word for it. He didn't say much to anyone, or attempt to talk to Izuku - he just... stood. Near his bed. Menacingly. Taking a head count, Izuku realized that it wasn't almost the whole class - it was _literally_ the whole class, save Bakugou.

That... made him kind of sad.

"Midoriya are you-" Iida said before being elbowed brutally to the side by Ochako.

"Oh! Izuku are you okay!? You're crying!" Uraraka yelped, leaning past the muscled out Iida to do a quick once over of his... he'd say body but really, he was 90% cast at this moment so. His cast.

"I- I'm just-" Izuku stuttered out, the sudden rush of support from this many people shocking him enough to drop his planning mind set and really _marvel_ at the friends he'd made since coming to UA. A year ago he couldn't have honestly laid claim to even a single friend. Now... now he had so many... and they were all charging forward together. It just made him so...

"I believe he's just happy to-" Iida tried again straightening up only to be elbowed in the opposite direction by Tsuyu, as she craned her neck to peer down at Izuku with her slightly too large eyes, her typical bland expression edging slightly closer to worry than normal - which was basically a full blown panic reaction for the taciturn girl. She craned her head left, then right, then poked his cheek - which hurt mildly but not so much so that he felt the need to show it. Then she leaned back and her face went blank again.

"He's fine." She said succinctly, then her brows furrowed and she pinched the cloth at Uraraka's elbow, drawing her back slightly so she wasn't directly atop Izuku anymore. The gravity controlling girl pouted and rolled her eyes slightly, but wen't with the movement, leaving Izuku to process the fact that for several seconds her chest had more or less been hovering directly over his face. He doubted she noticed because, obviously, he was still alive. But wow.

"How did all of-" Iida sprung back up, pausing to look around and ensure that no one else was going to interrupt him before continuing.

"How did all of you even arrive here so soon? Midoriya was hospitalized yesterday. Surely you all have internships to be attending to?" The bespectacled class president called out sternly.

"Deku made us all these cool apps. You never noticed? Just appeared on my phone one day." Ashido said, pulling her phone out and turning it to face Iida. Given the relative size of the room - and the sheer size of the crowd - she was forced to lean heavily on Iida's shoulder where he was sitting in order to balance while she did so, and her chin dropped into her open palm as she demonstrated.

" 'Wow one of us is totes going to die please help' " Iida read aloud incredulously, staring at the pink skinned girls phone in disbelief.

"It was called like, 1-A SOS System or something but I renamed it." Ashido explained with a smirk and a raised eyebrow in Izuku's direction.

"Ah. That seems much more appropriate. Still. When...?" Iida asked, turning back to Izuku.

"O-oh. Um. Sorry it's just, one of my forms is _super_ smart. Also, it lacks any concept of privacy and is sort of a sociopath? I just thought it would be a good idea one day and no one said anything about it after so..." Izuku rambled through his explanation, prompting Mineta to shoot up from where he was hidden to sit on the side of Izuku's bed.

"Wait, you had the number of every girl in the class and you didn't tell me!? BRO!?" The diminutive purple haired boy said, his eyes bloodshot and his nostrils flaring.

"I... well phone company security isn't very good and it was for a good cause..." Izuku mumbled sinking further and further into his bed in an attempt to deflect attention from himself. Not that it worked.

"Be that as it may." Yaoyorozu stated as she pushed herself through the crowd to stand on the opposite side of Tsuyu and Uraraka. She extended a baton from up her sleeve as she spoke the words, and gently used it to tip Mineta off the bad with all the casualness of someone swatting a fly away, not once ever actually looking towards the boy.

"It was somewhat invasive. Please, if you must obtain information on me s-such as my address. P-p-please ask." She said face morphing from beatific and calm to embarrassed and red the longer she spoke. Conversation in the room slowed until it was nonexistent as every student present in the room turned to look at the princess like girl with the perfect manners and bearing, who was presently suffering a meltdown.

"Yaoyorozu are you perhaps..." Izuku asked with a troubled expression on his face.

 _'Oh! I'm so stupid! Of course he would notice! He notices everything! He's_ ** _Izuku_** _!'_ Yaoyorozu thought, panic flooding through her at having been caught so early. She hadn't even had the chance to research the situation! You were supposed to spend time courting someone before this point weren't you?! She should have brought a gift! No, that would be too ostentatious. Flowers! No that would be too obvious.

 _Why had her tutors explained particle physics but not_ _ **dating**_ _to her!?_

"Are you... maybe sick? Or... or mad at me?" Izuku continued, his expression shifting from troubled to ashamed. The entire class turned back towards the green haired boy, their heads swiveling into place like turrets locking onto a target. A dozen stiff necks creaked as they shifted, and the class collectively held but a single thought.

 _'This damn Hero Otaku!'_

"I- you- yes! I'm _very! VERY! ILL!"_ Yaoyorozu stated robotically, her voice becoming louder and louder until she was practically screaming the last few words. She was simultaneously thankful that Izuku was oblivious to everything that didn't involve hero work, and _positively furious_ that he had the gall to ignore her like that.

"Oh...There's an extra bed over there if you want. It's for Iida but he's fine." Midoriya said as relief flooded his expression. He really had been worried for a bit there. After the last time he had seen Yaoyorozu he was positive she was furious with him. Knowing that she wasn't was actually quite cathartic. Yaoyorozu nodded numbly, all the blood having drained from her face, and wandered with zombie like poise towards the bed.

"What the _fuck!?"_ Mineta screeched, leaping up from where he had fallen moments before.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! I refuse to accept this! I, Mineta, am not such a terrible friend!" Mineta said heroically, thought inwardly his thoughts were somewhat less altruistic.

 _'If he's dating her than the best tits in the class are off the market, but everyone else is_ _ **free**_ _of the demon known as Izuku Midoriya! And I'll be there to pick up allllll those broken hearts!'_ He thought, not realizing his inner monologue had spilled forth in the form of a blatantly malicious aura that emanated from him and casued the entire male population of the class to look away and cringe.

"Midoriya - she's not sick or mad she clearly has a - mrggg!" Mineta began to yell into Izuku's face before a long tongue wrapped around his neck and lifted him into the air, choking him and preventing him from speaking.

"Mi-ne-ta~" Uraraka simpered at him, though all that anyone could feel looking at her expression and stance was 'fear'.

"If you finish that sentence, I will _literally_ throw you too the moon." She whispered cheerfully at the small boy, placing both her hands on his shoulders and pushing downward until his feet were touching the ground. He nodded his head frantically, hands desperately scrabbling at Tsuyu's tongue until she released him to fall into a heap by the bed.

"Is... Uraraka like, _really scary_ right now?" Kaminari whispered to his fellows.

"What was that? EH?" Uraraka said, turning her head to look menacingly at him and scowling like an old school gangster.

"NOTHING!" He squeaked in response, unwilling to weather the wrath of the girl who he privately thought had the most dangerous power in the room.

" _That's what I thought."_ She said, before turning back to Izuku, her expression swapping from menacing to cheerful before she had even finished turning. Izuku... _noticed_ the exchange but he felt like it was in his best interest not to mention it. Speaking of his best interest... why had he felt like he was in danger when the class had entered?

"Soooo. No training for a while huh?" Uraraka said casually, glancing sideways at Asui without fully turning her head away from him.

"Huh? No I just need to get to Recovery Girl. I have too much to do to-" Izuku said cautiously.

"What? No! You can't! The internships are done soon anyway!" Uraraka blurted out feebly. She had been hoping to use this opportunity to hang out with the shorter boy. She always had fun when he was around, and he made her forget about all the responsibilities and things she'd decided to take with her when she became a Hero. Plus, if her parents could get a few contracts for repairs in Hosu then money shouldn't be so tight for a while... it was basically the perfect opportunity for a da- to hang out. Just hang out. Alone. Together. Yep.

Izuku stared perplexed at Uraraka's plea, unsure of how to respond to a request to remain injured like this.

"She means, there are lots of critically injured folks here. You're low priority Midoriya. I swiped these from the nurses office though - should do for everything but the arm." Asui said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a handful of gummy bears that Izuku recognized from Recovery Girls office.

"Oh. Thank you then. Wonder what's in these... she has to kiss you to heal you so..." Izuku thought before realizing he couldn't actually reach out to _take_ the offered healing items.

"Probably spit. Kissing and all." Asui said with a shrug, eliciting a choked gasp from the gathered crowd followed by several seconds of dry heaving from many of the class.

"What!? I uh, you know I'll wait for-" Izuku said eye twitching as he made to refuse the gift after all. He wanted to train, or at the very least, be allowed to walk around on his own, but that was a bit much.

"Don't worry. Here, I'll help you." Asui said, ignoring his comment and stretching her hand out with the gummies. Then she stopped, looked about he room, and Izuku could swear her cheeks turned slightly red, as her eyes narrowed and she wrapped the gummies in her tongue.

"W-w-what are you doing!?" Yaoyorozu said suddenly, having apparently rushed from her bed to Izuku's side again at some point in the conversation.

"Can't reach past his cast without hurting him." Asui said innocently, her tongue descending towards him with all the certainty of a guillotine.

"No wait I-" "You can't!" "HIGH INAPPROPRIATE!" Izuku, Uraraka, and Yaoyorozu's voices rang out simultaneously.

Uraraka looked as though she tried belatedly to stop the process - something Izuku was eternally grateful for - but ultimate she was too late. Tsuyu tongue flicked past his cheek, positioned itself over his head, and then dropped the candy.

And Izuku Midoriya, still quite taxed from his fight and lack of rest - blacked out, the last sound he could hear, being the raucous laughter of Ingenium.

Tenryuu Iida watched these proceedings with a furrowed brow, then glanced at the floor where Mineta was watching the entire event with a sullen glower. He really _did_ want to repay Midoriya somehow. He realized that the boy had said he wanted nothing in return, which was extremely heroic of him, but even Hero's tended to at least get _paid_. Not making his appreciation known in a more tangible way simply wasn't something he could allow. Surely he could wait for Midoriya to need help but... that situation might not ever come to pass given his stupendous prowess as a fighter. No, if he wanted to help Midoriya, it would have to be in some other area of his life.

"Mineta, can I speak to you outside?" Iida said suddenly, rising from his chair and summarily blocking out the tempestuous goings on of class 1-A. It wasn't a new skill. He had long grown accustomed to ignoring the flagrantly strange things these people did. He considered a survival skill really.

"Huh? Sure." Mineta said easily, shooting one more scowl at the group before following him out of the room and to the hallway. When they had both left the immediate vicinity of the class, Iida turned to Mineta, kneeled, and put both of his hands on the smaller boys shoulders.

"Uh... no homo man." Mineta said weakly, trying to back away from his class presidents fervent gaze. Iida ignored the comment.

"Mineta, you are one of Midoriya's closest friends." Iida began. This was... technically true. Mineta _was_ around Midoriya more often than anyone else. But that was mostly because he had singled out the green haired moron as an excellent chick attractor. While he certainly had a certain degree of friendship with the boy, Mineta wouldn't describe them as 'close friends'. Before he could _say_ any of that though, Iida pressed on.

"I have had very few good friends. Do you know if there is anything I could do to repay Izuku for what he has done for me?" The muscular boy said, staring Mineta down.

"Geeze dude, what did he even do?" Mineta asked, kind of weirded out by the intenseness on display here. Also, he kind of wanted to go back into the hospital room. The girls were so busy with Midoriya that they didn't notice he could see under their skirts from the floor so...

"He..." Iida stopped and really thought about it. He probably couldn't tell the truth here. Since the police were sort of covering it up for them anyway. Still... when he thought about the possible consequences of his actions, especially had he _succeeded..._

"He saved my life." He said firmly, his grip tightening.

"Please Mineta, anything at all." He requested again. Mineta stopped and thought about it for a moment. Honestly, Midoriya had basically everything. Power. Looks. Women. No wait... his friend _didn't_ have women. He had 'friends' that _were_ 'women' because he was a moron or had a disability or something. That, was most certainly something Mineta could do something about. Sort of.

"Welll..." He said, the aura of a _true_ pervert emanating once more from him.

And though Izuku Midoriya was unconscious, a single shudder ran through his body, shocking everyone still present in the room.

-ooo-

In an entirely different city, Ben Tennyson walked up the halls of UA, carrying a transfer application under one arm. He whistled a jaunty tune and poked his head into nearly every classroom as he passed it, until he finally made it to the one he was looking for. He was going to have fun with this. He didn't strictly _have_ to come for this assignment - after all, it was pretty far out of his normal beat as a Plumber that primarily worked the North American underground. But Gwen and Grandpa were already here, and Ben had never known his Grandpa to be anywhere but the center of all the action. He didn't know what was going on in Japan, but damn was he going to have fun finding out.

"1-B huh?" He mused, pushing the door to his classroom open. Ben walked into an entirely empty room and glanced around. Of course, he _knew_ that nobody would be here. The students should still be out on some kind of apprenticeship thing according to the principal - who was a talking freaking rat, which was awesome. But Ben Tennyson hadn't gotten to be the world saving badass he was by being _stupid_.

Well... he kind of _had_ but still. He was a world saving badass nearly three times over, so he figured that as long as he was here and needed a cover he might as well scope out the terrain and get his Hero License. It wasn't as though he didn't constantly save people anyway.

With a carefree expression, Ben sat down at a desk that looked as if it had seen nearly no use, dropping his transfer papers on the wooden surface and leaning back to wait for his interview with the teacher. Peaking out from the manila folder containing all his information, was the bottom of a page with only a single field visible.

 **Quirk: None**

"Yep. This is gonna be one _hell_ of a time." He hummed to himself.

-ooo-

 **HAH! COME AT ME BROKERS!**

 **Nothing to say except, this one's for the Anonymous guest, who was certain it was useless to hit me up in a review. Protip. I read** ** _every_** **review. Even the ones calling me shit.**

 **Y'all realize reviews are basically Author Cocaine right?**

 **Oh and as always,**

 **Thanks for Reading.**


	28. Time Marches On

Izuku was in the hospital for two days - the exact amount of time remaining in his internship - before Recovery Girl turned up to fix him. The fact that she showed up with Gran Torino in tow was not lost on him. Nor was the fact that Gran Torino seemed to be... well, getting manhandled was the only word Izuku could think of to describe it.

"Aw come on! He's fine!" Gran Torino complained as he and the equally diminutive nurse of UA entered the room Izuku was in. Recovery Girl was pulling the man along by his ear and had a pinched, annoyed look on her face. The small bun she always kept her hair in strained against it's restraints, with loose hairs drifting too and fro, in what seemed like the direct result of rushed preparation.

"The boy's body is one contiguous fracture you old coot! And his arm! _HIS ARM!_ " Recovery Girl retorted, releasing her grip on Gran Torino's ear and throwing her hands in the air in exasperation.

"I figured you were busy helping out the other victims! He ain't in traction or anything!" Gran Torino shot back sullenly, rubbing at the side of his head and wobbling slightly while he tried to regain his balance.

"I'm _retired_ Sorahiko. I'm a nurse at a high school now. I don't _do_ field work anymore. You _know_ that." The elderly woman said, her words turning suspicious as she turned to look away from Izuku and back towards Gran Torino with a scowl.

Gran Torino must have caught the undertone of suspicion in her voice because he immediately grew pale and stepped robotically towards the window of the hospital room. Iida's brother - Ingenium - had been released just the day before, not because he was healed, but because his condition wasn't likely to improve any more than it already had under the hospital's supervision. Izuku's classmates - including Iida - had all been forced to return to their own placements after their initial visit, and so, despite several of his classmates having forced a promise to stay in contact out of him, Izuku once more found himself left alone with his thoughts.

It was time Izuku _usually_ would have spent as Grey Matter, the form that - in his opinion at least - he had the highest affinity with. However, his complete inability to move either of his arms, let alone set the dial on the Omnitrix somewhat precluded that.

So instead, he watched the two elders before him bicker. He'd never admit it of course, but seeing Gran Torino on the back foot like this was _oddly pleasing_ to Izuku. The old man was such a poor loser that seeing him in anything less than snide self-assurance was somehow refreshing.

"Now, Chiyo, I know what you're thinkin' -" Gran Torino started, propping open the window he was standing by and allowing a fresh breeze that Izuku didn't realize he needed to flow through the room.

"Oh? You can read minds now, can you? All right then Sorahiko, go ahead and read my mind. Tell _me_ , what am I thinking." Recovery Girl said, continuing to scowl and advance on Izuku's teacher.

"Um. I'm sure he had a good reason for not telling you." Izuku offered, then immediately spluttered; "M-m-m'am!" in deference when the wizened healers head whipped around to stare him down. What made the movement disconcerting to Izuku was the fact that _only_ her head turned. She very temporarily looked like an owl swiveling its head to look behind it.

Or, in Gran Torino's expert opinion - a woman possessed by Satan.

Without speaking a word she turned back to Gran Torino, having sufficiently cowed Izuku into silence. Izuku respected his teacher, and so was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt most of the time. But that didn't mean he was going to intervene in... whatever _this_ was for no good reason. Yes, as far as Izuku was concerted they were both responsible adults who could deal with their differences just fine on their own.

He repeated that to himself as he did his best to reduce his presence and avoid being paid any undue attention by the irate old woman before him.

Once more in Recovery Girls sights, Gran Torino paled noticeably then stammered.

"Y-you're thinking I didn't call you because I wanted to ride out my last few days in peace! But I swear, there's a good reason for that!"

"So you admit you were just being lazy!" Recovery Girl said, pouncing on Gran Torino's words like a jungle cat going for the kill.

"No! I had a good reason! I... just can't tell you what it is!" Gran Torino tried again. When his long time friend didn't appear to be buying it he changed tact.

"Anyway you're here now so - goodbye!" He said, his tone suddenly cheerful as he briefly saluted Izuku from past the small woman - and then leapt out the fifth floor window of the hospital.

Recovery Girl didn't seem surprised by the sudden escape, but Izuku found himself staring agape at the open window as if someone had just slapped him in the face. He _should_ have expected that move. Sure it was outrageous but if he thought about Gran Torino's sore loser personality, and tendency to flaunt what was normal on the basis that 'he was too old to care' then it all made sense. The old man had even clearly opened the window for no reason while the other occupants of the room watched.

And yet it was still an _insane_ response to the situation.

"Um. Do you two... know each other?" Izuku tried, hoping he could keep Recovery Girl's ire pointed away from him even if he had to stoke her rage against his mentor.

"Bah. That old grouch was always better at running then taking one on the chin. We used to work together." Recovery Girl said, picking up the chart situated at the base of Izuku's bed and looking over it with a critical eye that did nothing to detract from her clearly annoyed demeanor.

"Oh yeah, your both Bronze Age Heroes huh?" Izuku half muttered, getting a distracted nod from the nurse. Izuku had always found stories of the first generation of Heroes to be fascinating. Back then there had been no formal hero system, and there were drastically more villains than anything else. The only reason history books didn't describe the time period as anarchy was because - through _some miracle_ most governments had been able to maintain rule of law in the wake of all the new and unknown Quirks that were arising each day.

Izuku frowned, his eyes darting towards the wrist he knew held the Omnitrix. There was something about that time period he was forgetting... it was just at the tip of his -

"MWAH!" Recovery Girl's puckered lips pressing into Izuku's cheek derailed his train of thought. The loud smack as she pulled them away from him caused him to turn a bright red as he tried to suppress his embarrassment.

"Oh don't be such a baby about it. You remind me far too much of another idiot to think this is the last time we'll be here." Recovery Girl quipped at him, her face still set in a half scowl. Even as she spoke Izuku could _feel_ the power of her quirk flooding through him, reknitting bone and muscle together in one solid whole. A wave of exhaustion passed over him at the same time, and that, couple with the sudden cessation of the pain and discomfort he had been feeling up until that point was nearly enough to send him to sleep right then and there.

But he couldn't sleep yet. He had been almost completely cut off in the hospital. He had no more knowledge of how things were progressing in the outside world than what he could glean from his conversation with the Detective. And Izuku was keenly aware that knowledge, _understanding_ , was a power unto itself. Greater than the strongest quirk, and oft overlooked by the powerful, truly _knowing_ what was going on was something Izuku had come to understand made the difference between a competent hero, and a great one.

"What... what happened with the Nomu?" He asked, desperately struggling to keep his eyes open. Recovery Girl's lips pressed into a thin line as she watched him struggle to maintain consciousness.

"Don't you worry about it young man. The professionals handled those monsters easily. Now hush. Rest." She said, her voice taking on the practiced and soothing tone of a nurse that has seen too much suffering and truly prays for the well being of each and every one of her patients. At first her response was calming to Izuku. It was done. It was over. They had caught the Nomu. They had... stopped...

His eyes shot open in terror as several thoughts congealed in his mind at once. Did he ever _tell_ anyone about the Armored Nomu? The one that could _talk?_ Did Iida? Did _anybody?_ When the Detective spoke to him he had only spoken of Stain, of the Hero Killer. There had been no mention of anything else. True Stain was a monster, but he was a monster of mortal make. He was a monster that held the same limitations and reasoning as any other human being. But the Nomu. It was less like a person and more like a force of nature. Even at his best he had only really been able to ward it away, not defeat it. And if it was smart... if it had enough intelligence to go into hiding... then it was still out there. Waiting _for him_.

"No!" Izuku yelped, shooting up from his bed and dislodging much of the cast holding him in place. He no longer needed it so it was a small loss, but the large disturbance was enough to halt Recovery Girl as she made to leave the room.

"Young man you _must_ sleep! My healing-" She started in with a chiding tone before Izuku began to speak over her.

"The Armored Nomu! The one that could talk! The one from the USJ!" Izuku yelled in panic, his wild eyes turning towards the veteran hero with only the barest hint of hope in his eyes.

"Did they get that one too?" He pleaded. Recovery Girl didn't answer him - but she didn't need to. He could see it in her eyes. The confusion. The worry. She had no idea what he was talking about. Probably no one did. Iida might have reported the villain, but he hadn't seen how Izuku had ultimately defeated it. In the face of all the other troubles his taller classmate had been facing the Nomu would almost be a footnote. Something he could convincingly assume had been dealt with out of sight. Only it hadn't and Izuku had been lax in bringing up with anyone else.

"You have to-!" He started struggling to free himself from his bed. He needed one of his aliens. He needed XLR8, or Grey Matter, or Jetray - Mobility, Intelligence, Speed. It didn't matter how. He had to find that thing. No one else could -

Too late Izuku took notice of the orderlies that had rushed into the room amidst his continued tumult. Two of them rushed to his bed, one to either side of him, holding him down at the shoulders with flat stares and casual demeanors, as though bored of this situation and the many more like it they had faced before. But they didn't understand! They _didn't know what was out there!_

So it was that Izuku, half awake and panicked, look up and maintained eye contact with Recovery Girl for the entire time it took for him to be sedated. Only after he was soundly asleep did the older hero deign to speak or acknowledge the younger boys worries, something she did with only a single word and a dour expression.

"Shit."

-ooo-

 _Khoros was burning._

 _Zu'ku was small and weak. Easily the smallest and weakest of his kind. He had no hope of finding a wife in this life time. No hope of joining a Warband under a great warrior, or inheriting the martial prowess of a teacher. He had no skill at arms. Nor any skill_ _ **making**_ _arms, which was deemed an inferior if acceptable substitute by his people._

 _Zu'ku was just... nothing. He had been nothing before the world had come to an end, and he had continued to be nothing of note in the waning twilight of his planet._

 _And all that had changed when he had met_ _ **him**_ _. The greatest of all Tetramand's. The strongest, fastest, most indomitable warrior of their kind. The Hero of Khoro's himself. With a single slashed hand and a dribble of blood down his throat, he had become so much more. He had become heir to the power that would_ _ **save**_ _Khoros. But even with all that, he had never believed that the_ _ **power**_ _was what had made him a Hero. No, to his mind it was the words that were spoken on that day that had truly forged him into the Warleader he was always meant to be._

 _"Zu'ku. You too, can be a Hero."_

 _-ooo-_

 _The fires of Pyros dimmed._

 _Zucorona was a coward. He was unable to manipulate flames with the same acuity as his fellows, and bore such poor control of his own flames that he was too unsafe to be allowed to leave his homeworld. Other people were_ _ **already**_ _leery of Pyronite's for their destructive nature, and it was a rare day that Zucorona went without being reprimanded for his failings._

 _And now his home, the only place he would ever be even slightly welcome, was dying._

 _The elders convened. They argued. They raged. They demanded action from allies and enemies alike. But none could see a way to reignite the planet, restoring it to its former glory. And Zucorona, he had simply wanted to help so much that he... well he had no reason not to try at least right? He had no control but he_ _ **was**_ _powerful after a fashion. And reigniting a planet would be a worthy use of his life fire._

 _In all likelihood, had he not met_ _ **him**_ _that faithful day, that was exactly what he would have done. Given his life in an attempt to help a world that only barely accepted him. And in truth, likely would not have even succeeded. But deep in the heart of his planet, beneath the cooling magma flows and the shifting tectonic plates he had encountered_ _ **him**_ _. The Fireheart. The blaze that legend spoke of as the beginning of his species. And that meeting stuck out in his memory more than anything else. Even more so than the spark of godhood that had been kindled him by that meeting, the_ _ **words**_ _were what gave him strength._

 _"Zucorona. You too, can be a Hero."_

 _-ooo-_

 _Aeropela - Chalybeas - Anur Transyl - Galvan Prime was burning_

 _dying_

 _breaking_

 _ending_

 _And_ _ **he-**_

 _"You too-" "_ _ **YoU toO-**_ _" "YOU TOO-"_

 _"_ _ **Can**_ _" "bE" "a"_

 _"_ _ **HERO!**_ _"_

 _-_ ooo-

Izuku woke with a start. He had only the vaguest recollection of what he'd dreamt about. He felt it was important but somehow, no matter how much he thought over it, he just couldn't bring meaning and order to the chaotic memories flickering through his mind. He kicked his legs out from under the covers of his bed, and turned to sit on the edge its frame, eyes downcast in thought. It was his first night back from the hospital and he was _anxious_. He wasn't as panicked as he had originally been when understanding had donned on him back at the hospital, but he was still desperate to make it to school the next day so he could speak to All Might. As long as All Might knew about that _thing_ out there, then everything would be okay. He had defeated before so he should be able to defeat it again. Right?

Izuku sat in the dawn of the early morning, with the sun just cresting the horizon, and knew he was lying to himself. All Might was a force of good like no other. But what Izuku knew and that nobody else seemed to grasp was that he was _tired_. It wasn't just about his waning power. It wasn't just about the torch that had been passed on to Izuku. It was about the man himself. Izuku knew, without a shadow of a doubt that All Might, the greatest hero that had ever lived, could and would work for the betterment of others even unto his last breath. And truthfully, that was what worried him the most. That man... the longer Izuku lived in his shadow, the greater the threats he faced, the more he truly understood the weight that rested on those titanic shoulders. And every day that Izuku failed to rise to take that weight upon himself, was a day that it would continue to hobble his mentor.

Izuku lifted his right hand, firming his grip tightly around the Omnitrix. He would still tell All Might about the Armored Nomu but... he had to be prepared to be the one who would fight it. That was the responsibility he had taken on when he had inherited All Might's power.

The rest of Izuku's morning was spent mostly in solemn contemplation. Usually he would spend that time as Grey Matter, plotting, planning, and tinkering. But today he was... he hesitated to call it depressed. Wary would be the word. Izuku was wary of the future and what it held. Which was why when he finally arrived back to school for the first time in a long time, he was completely flabbergasted to find someone sitting in his seat.

"Uh..." He spluttered at the brown haired boy of American descent leaning back in his chair and chatting amiably with Sero and Kaminari.

"Hey! Deku right? Name's Ben." The boy said pleasantly, pausing mid sentence to sit up and extend a hand towards Izuku with a grin on his face.

"O-oh! Uh, my names... actually not Deku..." Izuku said with a wince as he stretched his left hand out hesitantly to shake with the other boy. He ignored the way his classmates smirked at him when he said those words. He _very much_ ignored the snickers from the female half of the classroom at his expense. He was perfectly aware of how hypocritical it was to let a pretty girl call him something and no one else.

"Huh. Weird. Everyone in this class is always 'Deku' this, 'Deku' that. I just assumed you know?" Ben said with a shrug before suddenly tightening his grip on Izuku's hand and twisting it so that the Omnitrix was facing upward. He examined it for a second, slowly tightening his grip with an almost bizarre amount of strength before releasing Izuku, who had begun to struggle the second attention had been drawn to the Omnitrix. Ben watched Izuku stumble backwards when the anchoring force that he was struggling against suddenly vanished.

"Nice watch." He added, smirking knowingly at Izuku. Izuku felt a sinking feeling run through him as he considered the the fact that the only two foreigners he knew were also aware of the Omnitrix. He looked around at his classmates who were mostly watching on with casual amusement, not realizing how threatening Izuku himself found those two simple words. Well most of the class anyway. Tsuyu - who almost always turned her attention towards Izuku when he was in the room - took immediate note of the smaller boys distress. It was often taken for granted the Asui was not one for social graces. She was blunt, not particularly emotive, and seemed self confident enough that she made nearly no attempt to cover those tendencies up. However this did not mean Asui _couldn't_ be mindful, or show tact. It simply meant that she often chose not to.

With quick, almost reflexive easy, Asui's tongue shot out, stretching the length of the classroom and flicking towards Ben's head in a maneuver that most of 1-A would recognize as the Mineta Special. Truthfully, the diminutive lecher had been surprisingly well behaved since he had begun to pursue his friendship with Izuku, and they hadn't had the opportunity to see the maneuver in a good long while. It was, perhaps, a testament to the absolute strangeness of the personalities gathered in that little classroom that _this_ more than anything else, spoke to them. It said to all of 1-A, that they were _back_ and all was as it should be.

It was a statement that Ben however, was only all to happy to disprove, leaning back on the rear legs of his chair to avoid the overhead strike from the frog girl. Leaving no room for further reprisal, he dislodged the multi tool from his shoulder, allowing it to take the form of a quarter staff and using the suddenly extending beam of hard light to propel him up and out of his chair in a standing pole vault that landed him exactly at the front of the classroom, just in front of the teachers lectern.

"Man you and Gwen would get along great." Ben quipped, twirling his staff about him before allowing it to collapse into a form vaguely reminiscent of a gun.

"Don't bully Izuku." Asui said with a shrug, retracting her tongue and eyeing the green haired boy, who - if anything - looked even _more_ distressed than he had before. She didn't know it yet, but there were several reasons for Izuku's sudden panic. First, Ben had clearly admitted to knowing Gwen - the woman who had previously stated her intent to take the Omnitrix from him. Second, the _symbol_ on Ben's omnitool was on prominent display. It was a symbol that Izuku recognize very clearly as being close to the symbol on the Omnitrix itself. But beyond all that, Izuku's musings from the day before about the history of the Bronze Age of Heroism had come back to him in full force.

After all, when so much evidence was shoved in front of him, how could he _not_ finally come to recognize that symbol? It was, after all, the symbol of the organization that had ensured the stability of America in the wake of Quirks emerging. It was the organization that had gone on to spread across the world, with Hero's of all kinds joining it's ranks. It was the symbol of the Plumbers.

And that, more than anything, did not bode well for one Izuku Midoriya.

"Eh, I was just saying hi. You wouldn't _believe_ the stuff the 1-B guys believe about him." Ben said with a hearty chuckle and a challenging smile towards Izuku.

"Anyway, lemme introduce myself again. My name is Ben Tennyson. And I am going to be the greatest hero that ever lived." The brown haired boy declared. The silence that fell over the classroom was expected, but abrupt. Members of the class who had only barely been paying attention to the goings on until that point paused to stare at Ben. Ben could _feel_ the sudden onrush of competitive spirit as every member of the class etched his image into their memories. This was more like it! This was what he he lived for! These kids, they had _no idea_ who they were messing with. He was Ben-freaking-Tennyson! He'd been a Hero since he was ten years old! He had all the essential qualities and skills necessary to be a hero _right now_. The certification was just a formality to him. And when he graduated top of the heap? Well who _else_ were they going to give the Omnitrix when they finally got it back?

He locked eyes with Izuku in that moment, and both of them knew, then and their.

To this person... I absolutely won't lose!

Izuku's gaze firmed up, and the grin he was famous for began to spread across his face. A pressure unlike that which the class had already brought to bare against Ben filled the room, one that was met in equal measure by this foreign boy who had invaded their classroom so early in the morning. The tension only broke, when everyone blinked, and suddenly there was _someone else_ in the room with them.

"Honestly Ben, I came all the way from America to teach you and you can't even be bothered to be in the right classroom?" A slightly amused sounding British voice spoke up, breaking the tension slightly.

"Wha- Professor Paradox!?" Ben yowled, jumping slightly away from the middle aged man wearing a white coat with golden trim about the shoulders that had all but teleported into the room.

"Yes Ben, that is my moniker here. Honestly, I've no idea _why_ you're so insistent on avoiding me." The older man huffed.

"Because every time you show up nothing makes sense!" Ben barked back, edging towards the door defensively.

"Ben my boy, you are a kind soul, but I must admit that you think _chili cheese fries_ are the height of scientific improvement. I assure you that _everything_ makes sense when I am around." Professor Paradox said with a swift roll of his eyes before vanishing between one blink and the next. Ben - who had pressed himself against the door into the classroom in preparation for an escape, released a sigh of relief. Which was the exact moment the door _opened_ and the silver gauntleted fist of Professor Paradox reached into the room to drag him out into the hall with a strangled yelp, the door slamming shut behind him.

Izuku, and indeed the majority of 1-A stared on in dumbfounded wonder at the sudden exit of the boy who had only moments before declared himself their better. Izuku had no idea who Professor Paradox was - he had never worked with All Might and he wasn't from Japan, so he wasn't likely to have immediately come to Izuku's attention - but _Ben_ certainly seemed wary of him. And he could clearly do something akin to teleporting which was easily one of the better Quirks Izuku could think of...

"Who the heck was _that_?" Kirishima asked incredulously.

"A new teacher!" Tooru squeeled, waving her arms furiously in the air to express her delight at this new development. As one the class turned their gazes on Izuku, awaiting the resident experts explanation. Izuku blinked once, then turned red as he tried to find a way to explain that, yes, he was a human and therefore might _not_ know every hero that ever existed. He was saved however, by what happened next.

"Ah, I almost forgot to introduce myself!" Professor Paradox's voice called out from the rear of the classroom, causing Izuku to stiffen once more in surprise.

"My name is Professor Paradox. I know my accent would imply I'm British, but I operate largely out of the America's. I will be the new teacher of 1-B while Vlad King is away on business." Professor Paradox stated happily, his hand landing on Izuku's shoulder. Izuku tried _very hard_ not to jerk away in surprise. He hadn't even managed to turn all the way around before the new teacher had moved.

"Fear not for my fellow faculty member though. He will return in due time. Somethings are simply _meant to be_." He chortled, shooting Izuku a meaningful glance before once more vanishing from sight. Izuku turned towards Bakugou's seat, too late realizing that uncanny quietness of the temperamental boy in the face of all this new strangeness - only to find him sound asleep in his seat. He pursed his lips in worry at that. He had never known Bakugou to be anything but energetic when it came to his lessons at UA. He was halfway to his feet in order to question his childhood friend when Aizawa - their _actual_ teacher, finally chose that moment to sit up from behind the teachers lectern, only his face visible in the opening of his sleeping bag.

"Alright that's enough. Class has officially begun." He declared with a lazy tone that brooked absolutely no argument.

And so Izuku was forced to sit back down, and ponder all these knew changes in his surroundings in silence. He just had to make it to lunch break, then he could talk to All Might. Only... something told him that that conversation wouldn't be as reassuring as he thought it would be.

-ooo-

"Bleh. Nasty." She griped, sliding off of her most recent victim and reforming her body in the alley beside him. She had tasted this flavour before. The man she had just assaulted - possibly even murdered, she wasn't quite sure - was bland. His DNA was... how could she put this... it was like sweaty gym socks. _Most_ strength enhancing quirks tasted like some variation of sweaty gym socks. That taste _did_ have it's own appeal back at the beginning when she'd just gotten her Quirk. It wasn't as though that was a literal _flavour_ she was tasting. But it was the closest she had ever been able to come to describing the sublime sensation of feeling the lifeblood and DNA of another creature flow through her gelatinous body. Did she _have_ to get that taste from blood? No, ofcourse not. But Himiko Toga was a girl who had _preferences_ and she was loathe to allow anyone to take that away from her.

She turned her head fractionally to the side, eyeing the entrance to the Bar she had been invited to. It was kind of cute that _she_ had been invited to a bar. Oh she knew this wasn't an amorous meeting - she had long since learned that nothing and nobody would be able to abide her tendency to get bored of a persons flavour and move on long enough to hold a relationship together with her. She was more than aware of how her unique biology and tendencies made her repulsive to... just about everybody.

But that was why she had to go. Not just to find new and interesting DNA to taste - but because if this shitty world wasn't going to accept her than she would just have to do what any sane person would do. She would tear it down and make a new one.

That final, malicious thought, caused Himiko Toga, bearer of the Quirk: Slimebiote, to smile a jagged toothed smile that caused her already questionable stretchy physiology to warp. Her smile was - literally - ear to ear, and it promised nothing but bad things to anyone who should get in her way.

With a final absent minded kick to the stomach of the mook she had ridden here on, she strode forward into the Bar. This would later be known as the first ever meeting - of the League of Villains.

 **-ooo-**

 **Once more into the breach! In so far as things go, the Slimebiote was one of my favourite things about Omniverse, and I just had to include it in my story eventually. I had pretty much always intended for Toga to be that character, because I thought her desperate loneliness lined up nicely with the Skurds nature as the last of it's species. Whether or not she actually ends up as an ally the way Skurd did remains to be seen. Toga as a character has kind of a lot more literal murder in her history than Skurd did so redeeming her might be a bit more of a stretch.**

 **This chapter also sort of showcases the way Izuku's Ultimate Forms came to be if you pay attention.**

 **For those unaware of the mechanics, the Omnitrix - even the default one - has always had a simulation ability to it. It takes the DNA of it's wielder, and then simulates an entire life for them as a member of the species they transform into. This means that they transform into whatever alien they pick as literally a version of themselves if they were a member of that species. In the original series, the Ultimate Aliens were the result of Albedo adding a function to the Omnitrix that simulated like a billion year death match/civil war for that species, where the final result - which was obviously specialized for combat - would be the Ultimate version of that alien. In Izuku's case that's not**

 ** _quite_** **the case. I wont get too into the details past that, but I thought I would clarify incase I have a few readers that only really watched Omniverse and never got to enjoy Ultimate Alien.**

 **Anywho, you all know the deal. Reviews=Crack, Me=Addict. It's really that simple. Ask any questions you like in the reviews and as long as they're reasonable and not overly spoilery I'll try to answer them in my afterstory blurb.**

 **And as always,**

 **Thanks for reading.**


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